#New Banks in Bangladesh

[xclowniex]

I have two questions and apologies if this seems wordy, but I'm a little bit confused. I learned about the "Land for All" solution, which is two-states, one homeland solution, and I think that that is what I think the solution to the conflict is. However, I've seen people argue for a strict 1SS or 2SS solution and I'm confused.

Do you think a 1 state solution will ever be possible? Because right now, the Gaza strip and the West Bank are not physically connected, and I don't see it working out well. (Pakistan and Bangladesh being separated by India, for example. It didn't work). Obviously we can't force people to move just redesignate what is now Palestine and what is now Israel. I really can't see either of those territories functioning independently but they're also very different (culturally/politically/socially, I've seen Gaza and the West Bank beginning to diverge). But a 1SS seems theoretically possible, given that 20% of Israelis are Arab. Is there a huge difference between Israeli Arabs and Palestinian Arabs?

What is it that makes Israel a Jewish country. I understand that Jews are indigenous to the Levant and that indigenous groups have the right to self-autonomy. I am not disputing that, and I have no problem with Israel existing. But what EXACTLY makes Israel a Jewish state? Is it the population demographics (majority Jewish), the fact that the country follows Jewish rules? Jewish culture/language? Presence of Kosher food? Because I've heard a lot of pro-palestinians argue that instead of the State of Israel, there should be a 1SS Land for All solution. But that risks Jews not being the majority, and many Arabs in Palestine have been brainwashed to hate Jews (not saying Arabs are inherently evil. Obviously I disagree with that. But Jews live side by side with Arabs in Israel. The reverse simply does not happen in Palestinian territories.) so "Israel" (or whatever the hypothetical 1 State would be called) would no longer be a Jewish country. But many people say that a 1 state solution is the ideal solution. I guess my question is "why", because a 1SS denies the existence of a Jewish nation.

Hi there! So to answer your questions, I am just going to need to clarify a few things you may be confused on.

Land for all is not a one state solution of Israel or Palestine nor two states one homeland. It is essentially when you create a new third country.

To answer your first question, under a land for all, it doesn't matter as the west bank, gaza and Israel are all a new country. Under a two state solution, it depends on which form you support.

There is the version where you keep the borders where they are now, some where you go to the borders back in the 60's or the original proposed borders in 1948. The west bank and Gaza haven't always been separated.

As I am a land for all idealist and 2SS realist, under a two state solution I do think that they would need to be connected, and purely from a border point of view, some of Southern Israel should be given up for this. Ofc it gets more complicated when you bring in how Israelis living in Southern Israel would feel about it as well as from an infrastructure perspective, but that is not really my wheelhouse.

I would have to defer your question on the difference between Israeli arabs and Palestinian arabs to Israelis as I am not that knowledgeable on that, but I assume the main difference is lifestyle and ideologies they are surrounded with.

To answer the second bit of your ask, for context, most pro Palestine folk don't really support a land for all, they support a one state solution of Palestine. And this becomes an issue where you have Hamas who hates jews. If this does happen and Hamas remains in power, a genocide of jews will happen.

Assuming Hamas is removed from power and a government which supports coexistence is installed in a one state of Palestine, the only issue is preserving jewish self determination. Which any meaningful way just ends up putting you at a land for all solution and no longer a 1SS of Palestine. This is also the reason why I do not support a 1SS of Israel.

Israel is a Jewish country because of 3 reasons: the majority population is ethnically jewish, the majority religion is judaism and there is a mixture of religion and state in the country's laws.

That last bit I'm not a huge fan of regardless of country or religion as I am a huge fan of keeping religion and state separate, but the other two are normal reasons.

For example, Aotearoa New Zealand is a Christian country as the main religion here is Christianity. Jamaica is considered a primarily African country despite not being in Africa as per the 2006 census, 90% of the population is of West African descent, despite the country technically being north amercian as that is the continent it is in. (Source)

If you have any follow up questions, feel free to send an ask or to dm me!

[cromulentenough]

if people haven't heard the news, bangladesh recently had massive student protests which eventually lead to the prime minister who has been ruling autocratically for the last 15 years fleeing the country just as the protestors were about to march on the prime ministers residence, and then been temporarily replaced by the nobel peace prize winner who came up with microloans and founded grameen bank.

the protests were to do with rules that would have put quotas in for civil service jobs that would favour the ruling party (technically it was about 'relatives of freedom fighters' but in practice that would have been what happened).

What's interesting is that (from what i've heard) after police opened fire on protestors, what got things to swing was trying to get the army to open fire and they refused.

In the past the army has had military rule a few times, and everyone i know who lived through it preferred it to what was happening before and after, but it stopped from international pressure to return to 'democracy' (which included jailing the opposition members every time the leadership changed and last election the opposition just refused to stand at all because they didn't think the elections would be conducted fairly) . The military in bangladesh is much less corrupt than the police/ politicians.

[unichrome]

The biggest heist that almost was

Let me tell you about the most insane bank heist that is going to sound like I'm just leaking the script for the next American hacking movie. The goal? Steal one billion USD. And it all began with an email and a printer, which as we all know is where problems usually start. Another weapon in this heist was... Weekends and time zones.

As usual, no prior computer science education needed.

What happened?

On the morning of February 5th 2016, a printer had stopped working in the central bank of Bangladesh (Bangladesh Bank). But it wasn't just any printer, it was the printer responsible for printing all the records of the multimillion transfers going in and out of the bank. When the poor employees finally won the printer battle and had it resume normal operation, they saw a very concerning account transfer in the records that was coming out. The bank had an USD account in the USA, at Federal Reserve Bank, with approximately 1 billlion Dollars in it, and the Federal Reserve Bank had received instructions to drain almost the entire amount. In the records that came out in the printer, the American bank had attempted to urgently message the Bangladesh bank regarding this transfer, but couldn't get through to them. This was because the hack had actually started the day before, Thursday 4th, at around 20:00 Bangladesh time, when the bank was closed. However, USA had just started their day, giving the American bank plenty of time to follow through with the instructions from the Bangladesh bank to drain their entire account while they were closed. And that wasn't the end of it, as weekends are from Friday to Saturday in Bangladesh, meaning that the Bangladesh bank headquarters in Dhaka wouldn't discover this withdrawal until Sunday morning. That's when they immediately tried to reach the American bank, which of course didn't work as over there it was Saturday evening, and the American weekend is from Saturday to Sunday, meaning that they wouldn't be reachable until Monday.

You see what I mean by the hackers using time zones and weekends, finding the perfect time for the American bank to execute their orders while Bangladesh discovers the withdrawal several days too late, and again several days too late for Americans to be reachable. But it didn't stop there with their timehacking.

The money had to go somewhere from the American bank, and it would be stupid to send it directly to the hackers own account without laundering the money first. So they had set up four different bank accounts in the Philippines, using fake names and credentials. Why the Philippines? Because the Lunar new year was on Monday the 8th, which is a holiday and holiday means no bank activities in either Bangladesh or the Philippines, buying the hackers even more time. As a final act, they messed with the printer responsible for printing transaction records, adding another few hours to their schedule. Moon and stars really aligned perfectly for this plan.

But how did they do it?

It all began one year prior, in January 2015, with an email sent to several employees at the Bangladesh Bank. The email seemingly contained a job application from a person who didn't actually exist, but who was very polite in his request for a position at the bank, with a link to his CV and cover letter. Naturally this link led to a document with a little surprise gift - malware. Since the heist happened, at least one of the recipients must have clicked the link, and successfully deployed a RAT - Remote Access Trojan, malware that lets you control a computer from the comfort of your own home, as well as a toolkit with various malware to move from computer to computer, avoiding discovery, and covering their tracks.

From there, the hackers slowly made their way through the bank offices network, one step at a time to avoid setting off alarms, looking for any computer that had control of the banks SWIFT setup. SWIFT lets banks transfer large amounts of money between themselves and other banks connected to SWIFT. And as soon as they found one of those computers, they stopped. They didn't need to hack SWIFT in the traditional sense of the word - since they operated in a bank computer, the SWIFT-software assumed they naturally had to be bank employees. However, one of the parts of the malware used in the heist was for manipulating the SWIFT system, as the hackers weren't physically there to press anything. Additionally, since they were laying dormant for the time to strike, they needed to keep an eye out for SWIFT updates that could detect any tampering with the system, and adapt accordingly.

Then they waited many months for the stars to align on February 4th, 2016.

There were 35 transfers made by the hackers from the American bank account, totaling almost 1 billion USD, but there were two of these tiny little seemingly insignificant details that prevented this from becoming the worlds largest bank heist in history. The hackers biggest enemy became this concept known as “words”.

The Philippine bank accounts were all located in the same RCBC Bank office on Jupiter Street in Manila. And this would be the hackers downfall, as USA had sanctions put on an Iranian cargo ship called Jupiter. Since the transactions went to a recipient that contained the word “Jupiter”, it created a security alert in the Federal Reserve Bank that the employees needed to investigate. When they saw what was going on, they managed to stop all but five of the initial 35 transactions, thus “only” roughly 100 million USD made it to the Philippines. The Bangladesh bank requested to reverse the transactions, but since the money was in the Philippines, they would need bureaucracy in form of a court order to reclaim the money, and we all know that's not a 5 minute project. It was when Bangladesh filed the court order in late February that the case became public (since court orders are public documents) and the news broke to the country.

Once in the RCBC bank accounts, the money arrived on Friday the 5th and was immediately moved again. First the 100 million was converted to local currency, and some of it was withdrawn in cash, while the rest was sent off to other hacker-controlled locations. And this is where the second tiny little detail cut off even more of the hackers precious payday. 20 million USD had been sent to Shalika Foundation, a charity organisation in Sri Lanka. But,  once again the hackers worst enemy - words - decided to strike again. A typo was made in their transaction, sending the money to “Shalika Fundation”, and a bank employee who must have had their morning coffee spotted this typo and rejected the transfer and kept the funds frozen. This left the hackers with 80 million USD.

✨Now comes the money laundering!✨

There was a second reason for choosing the Philippines as deposit zone; gambling is legal and the casinos had no money laundering regulations imposed. The accomplices of the heist booked private rooms in two casinos located in Manila - Solaire and Midas - and proceeded to purchase tokens to gamble for with the stolen money. Since they played with a room consisting of their fellow accomplices, winning was not really much of a challenge. Then the tokens could be exchanged back to money that would now be clean. To avoid suspicion, they didn't gamble all of the money at once, but over the course of several weeks gambled away the dirty money to clean money.

Who was behind it?

It's normally difficult to pinpoint where the more sophisticated hacking groups come from. Oftentimes, they will leave false clues behind that points to another group so they will face more trouble instead of the group that did it. They may even place clues from several different groups, just to mess with the analysts. It's also quite common to simply “steal” a way of working from another group, or use a leaked/stolen tool from another group (criminals aren't safe from other criminals, especially not in this business) - there are new malware coming out all the time with code that is just a slight modification of a well-known malware actor that had their source code leaked or simply had hired the same programmer. Or they may leave no clues as to who was behind it. Attribution to the guilty part is usually the single most difficult mission in IT-security - often it's just pure guesswork with little to no solid evidence to back it up, if you're lucky there's circumstantial evidence.

This case was no different. The first clue came from the IP the bad guys used to connect to the Bangladesh bank from. It was located in Pyongyang, North Korea. But, as I mentioned, this is not a conclusive verdict, as the IP may simply be planted false evidence to throw the analysts off their track. After the heist, the hackers used a data-wiper to scrub as much of their malware off the bank systems, but they didn't succeed in deleting all of it, some of the tools were still present, including the wiper.

Due to the scale of this operation, it caught the attention of every single IT-security person and IT-security company worldwide, who all of course wanted to know who and how they did it. With the remaining malware, a joint effort was made, comparing malware code to other malware code for similarities. Some was found in Poland, after an analyst noted the similarities from another suspected North Korean hack. Some was found in another infamous North Korean hack targeting Sony Pictures. More and more signs pointed towards the same actor. Some were false leads, the hackers seemed to be wanting to implicate the Russians did it, but failed quite miserably at that, just sprinkling random Russian words into the malware and making it way too obvious it was a ruse.

You may not believe this, but the North Korean government has one of the most notorious hacking groups in the world, known as the Lazarus Group. Some of its more well-known adventures include an extremely data-destructive hack of Sony Pictures (as punishment for releasing “The Interview”), creation of the ransomware WannaCry which was used against many targets worldwide (including hospitals), and various attempts at gathering information from governments and government-affiliated corporations all over the world. And, of course, this heist.

Eventually, after months of collaboration all over the world, the final verdict fell on North Korea, and specifically one of their programmers. His name is Park Jin Hyok, and worked for Chosun Expo - a front company for the North Korean government, located in Dalian (China) who used the funds of the fake corporation gained from legitimate programming jobs from customers worldwide to create the malware and plan the heist with all of its expenses. Of course he wasn't the sole person involved in this project, but it's the only person we know was in it.

This particular heist had been meticulously planned for several years, and Park Jin Hyok had moved to Dalian, set up fake IDs and built a network of contacts there to avoid suspicion. However, he didn't manage to delete all of his online footprints, and became the number one suspect when his internet activities suddenly came from Pyongyang, North Korea.

Additionally, several Chinese business men - many associated with the casino industry in China's Macau territory - were also charged and arrested for assisting with setting up the gambling rooms and coordinating the money laundering process. One unknown Chinese business man managed to get away with 31 million USD of the 80 million that remained after the heist, and as you would expect, he was never to be seen again.

With the middlemen from China paid off, not much remained of the original 1 billion to North Korea. But the heist has fascinated the whole IT-security world nonetheless.

I remember when the news of this case dropped to the IT-security world, who all wanted to take part in the hunt. It was a very fun time, we were all sitting at the edge of our seats waiting for the next update. I hope it was at least somewhat exciting for you too to read about, and thank you for reading this long post! If you liked it, please consider reblogging as it motivates me to write more. You may also like malware stuff I've written about before, such as Stuxnet or just plain evil malware that is a threat to our daily lives.

As always my inbox is open if you have any questions.

[theculturedmarxist]

SHANGHAI — Over the past generation, China’s most important relationships were with the more developed world, the one that used to be called the “first world.” Mao Zedong proclaimed China to be the leader of a “third” (non-aligned) world back in the 1970s, and the term later came to be a byword for deprivation. The notion of China as a developing country continues to this day, even as it has become a superpower; as the tech analyst Dan Wang has joked, China will always remain developing — once you’re developed, you’re done. 

Fueled by exports to the first world, China became something different — something not of any of the three worlds. We’re still trying to figure out what that new China is and how it now relates to the world of deprivation — what is now called the Global South, where the majority of human beings alive today reside. But amid that uncertainty, Chinese exports to the Global South now exceed those to the Global North considerably — and they’re growing. 

The International Monetary Fund expects Asian countries to account for 70% of growth globally this year. China must “shape a new international system that is conducive to hedging against the negative impacts of the West’s decoupling,” the scholar and former People’s Liberation Army theorist Cheng Yawen wrote recently. That plan starts with Southeast Asia and extends throughout the Global South, a terrain that many Chinese intellectuals see as being on their side in the widening divide between the West and the rest. 

“The idea is that what China is today, fast-growing countries from Bangladesh to Brazil could be tomorrow.”

China isn’t exporting plastic trinkets to these places but rather the infrastructure for telecommunications, transportation and digitally driven “smart cities.” In other words, China is selling the developmental model that raised its people out of obscurity and poverty to developed global superpower status in a few short decades to countries with people who have decided that they want that too. 

The world China is reorienting itself to is a world that, in many respects, looks like China did a generation ago. On offer are the basics of development — education, health care, clean drinking water, housing. But also more than that — technology, communication and transportation.

Back in April, on the eve of a trip to China, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva sat down for an interview with Reuters. “I am going to invite Xi Jinping to come to Brazil,” he said, “to get to know Brazil, to show him the projects that we have of interest for Chinese investment. … What we want is for the Chinese to make investments to generate new jobs and generate new productive assets in Brazil.” After Lula and Xi had met, the Brazilian finance minister proclaimed that “President Lula wants a policy of reindustrialization. This visit starts a new challenge for Brazil: bringing direct investments from China.” Three months later, the battery and electric vehicle giant BYD announced a $624 million investment to build a factory in Brazil, its first outside Asia.

Across the Global South, fast-growing countries from Bangladesh to Brazil can send raw materials to China and get technological devices in exchange. The idea is that what China is today, they could be tomorrow.

At The Kunming Institute of Botany

In April, I went to Kunming to visit one of China’s most important environmental conservation outfits — the Kunming Institute of Botany. Like the British Museum’s antiquities collected from everywhere that the empire once extended, the seed bank here (China’s largest) aspires to acquire thousands of samples of various plant species and become a regional hub for future biotech research. 

From the Kunming train station, you can travel by Chinese high-speed rail to Vientiane; if all goes according to plan, the line will soon be extended to Bangkok. At Yunnan University across town, the economics department researches “frontier economics” with an eye to Southeast Asian neighboring states, while the international relations department focuses on trade pacts within the region and a community of anthropologists tries to figure out what it all means. 

Kunming is a bland, air-conditioned provincial capital in a province of startling ethnic and geographic diversity. In this respect, it is a template for Chinese development around Southeast Asia. Perhaps in the future, Dhaka, Naypyidaw and Phnom Penh will provide the reassuring boredom of a Kunming afternoon. 

Imagine you work at the consulate of Bangladesh in Kunming. Why are you in Kunming? What does Kunming have that you want?

The Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore lyrically described Asia’s communities as organic and spiritual in contrast with the materialism of the West. As Tagore spoke of the liberatory powers of art, his Chinese listeners scoffed. The Chinese poet Wen Yiduo, who moved to Kunming during World War II and is commemorated with a statue at Yunnan Normal University in Kunming, wrote that Tagore’s work had no form: “The greatest fault in Tagore’s art is that he has no grasp of reality. Literature is an expression of life and even metaphysical poetry cannot be an exception. Everyday life is the basic stuff of literature, and the experiences of life are universal things.” 

“Xi Jinping famously said that China doesn’t export revolution. But what else do you call train lines, 5G connectivity and scientific research centers appearing in places that previously had none of these things?”

If Tagore’s Bengali modernism championed a spiritual lens for life rather than the materiality of Western colonialists, Chinese modernists decided that only by being more materialist than Westerners could they regain sovereignty. Mao had said rural deprivation was “一穷二白” — poor and empty; Wen accused Tagore’s poetry of being formless. Hegel sneered that Asia had no history, since the same phenomena simply repeated themselves again and again — the cycle of planting and harvest in agricultural societies. 

For modernists, such societies were devoid of historical meaning in addition to being poor and readily exploited. The amorphous realm of the spirit was for losers, the Chinese May 4th generation decided. Railroads, shipyards and electrification offered salvation.

Today, as Chinese roads, telecoms and entrepreneurs transform Bangladesh and its peers in the developing world, you could say that the argument has been won by the Chinese. Chinese infrastructure creates a new sort of blank generic urban template, one seen first in Shenzhen, then in Kunming and lately in Vientiane, Dhaka or Indonesian mining towns. 

The sleepy backwaters of Southeast Asia have seen previous waves of Chinese pollinators. Low Lan Pak, a tin miner from Guangdong, established a revolutionary state in Indonesia in the 18th century. Li Mi, a Kuomintang general, set up an independent republic in what is now northern Myanmar after World War II. 

New sorts of communities might walk on the new roads and make calls on the new telecom networks and find work in the new factories that have been built with Chinese technology and funded by Chinese money across Southeast Asia. One Bangladeshi investor told me that his government prefers direct investment to aid — aid organizations are incentivized to portray Bangladesh as eternally poor, while Huawei and Chinese investors play up the country’s development prospects and bright future. In the latter, Bangladeshis tend to agree.

“Is China a place, or is it a recipe for social structure that can be implemented generically anywhere?”

The majority of human beings alive today live in a world of not enough: not enough food; not enough security; not enough housing, education, health care; not enough rights for women; not enough potable water. They are desperate to get out of there, as China has. They might or might not like Chinese government policies or the transactional attitudes of Chinese entrepreneurs, but such concerns are usually of little importance to countries struggling to bootstrap their way out of poverty.

The first world tends to see the third as a rebuke and a threat. Most Southeast Asian countries have historically borne abuse in relationship to these American fears. Most American companies don’t tend to see Pakistan or Bangladesh or Sumatra as places they’d like invest money in. But opportunity beckons for Chinese companies seeking markets outside their nation’s borders and finding countries with rapidly growing populations and GDPs. Imagine a Huawei engineer in a rural Bangladeshi village, eating a bad lunch with the mayor, surrounded by rice paddies — he might remember the Hunan of his childhood.  

Xi Jinping famously said that China doesn’t export revolution. But what else do you call train lines, 5G connectivity and scientific research centers appearing in places that previously had none of these things? 

Across the vastness of a world that most first-worlders would not wish to visit, Chinese entrepreneurs are setting up electric vehicle and battery companies, installing broadband and building trains. The world that is looming into view on Huawei’s 2022 business report is one in which Asia is the center of the global economy and China sits at its core, the hub from which sophisticated and carbon-neutral technologies are distributed. Down the spokes the other way come soybeans, jute and nickel. Lenin’s term for this kind of political economy was imperialism. 

If the Chinese economy is the set of processes that created and create China, then its exports today are China — technologies, knowledge, communication networks, forms of organization. But is China a place, or is it a recipe for social structure that can be implemented generically anywhere?

Huawei Station

Huawei’s connections to the Chinese Communist Party remain unclear, but there is certainly a case of elective affinities. Huawei’s descriptions of selfless, nameless engineers working to bring telecoms to the countryside of Bangladesh is reminiscent of Party propaganda and “socialist realist” art. As a young man, Ren Zhengfei, Huawei’s CEO, spent time in the Chongqing of Mao’s “third front,” where resources were redistributed to develop new urban centers; the logic of starting in rural areas and working your way to the center, using infrastructure to rappel your way up, is embedded within the Maoist ideas that he studied at the time. Today, it underpins Huawei’s business development throughout the Global South. 

I stopped by the Huawei Analyst Summit in April to see if I could connect the company’s history to today. The Bildungsroman of Huawei’s corporate development includes battles against entrenched state-owned monopolies in the more developed parts of the country. The story goes that Huawei couldn’t make inroads in established markets against state-owned competitors, so got started in benighted rural areas where the original leaders had to brainstorm what to do if rats ate the cables or rainstorms swept power stations away; this story is mobilized today to explain their work overseas. 

Perhaps at one point, Huawei could have been just another boring corporation selling plastic objects to consumers across the developed world, but that time ended definitively with Western sanctions in 2019, effectively banning the company from doing business in the U.S. The sanctions didn’t kill Huawei, obviously, and they may have made it stronger. They certainly made it weirder, more militant and more focused on the markets largely scorned by the Ericssons and Nokias of the world. Huawei retrenched to its core strength: providing rural and remote areas with access to connectivity across difficult terrain with the intention that these networks will fuel telehealth and digital education and rapidly scale the heights of development.

Huawei used to do this with dial-up modems in China, but now it is building 5G networks across the Global South. The Chinese government is supportive of these efforts; Huawei’s HQ has a subway station named for the company, and in 2022 the government offered the company massive subsidies.

“For many countries in the Global South, the model of development exemplified by Shenzhen seems plausible and attainable.”

For years, the notion of an ideological struggle between the U.S. and China was dismissed; China is capitalist, they said. Just look at the Louis Vuitton bags. This misses a central truth of the economy of the 21st century. The means of production now are internet servers, which are used for digital communication, for data farms and blockchain, for AI and telehealth. Capitalists control the means of production in the United States, but the state controls the means of production in China. In the U.S. and countries that implicitly accept its tech dominance, private businesspeople dictate the rules of the internet, often to the displeasure of elected politicians who accuse them of rigging elections, fueling inequality or colluding with communists. The difference with China, in which the state has maintained clear regulatory control over the internet since the early days, couldn’t be clearer. 

The capitalist system pursues frontier technologies and profits, but companies like Huawei pursue scalability to the forgotten people of the world. For better or worse, it’s San Francisco or Shenzhen. For many countries in the Global South, the model of development exemplified by Shenzhen seems more plausible and attainable. Nobody thinks they can replicate Silicon Valley, but many seem to think they can replicate Chinese infrastructure-driven middle-class consumerism.

As Deng Xiaoping said, it doesn’t matter if it is a black cat or a white cat, just get a cat that catches mice. Today, leaders of Global South countries complain about the ideological components of American aid; they just want a cat that can catch their mice. Chinese investment is blank — no ideological strings attached. But this begs the question: If China builds the future of Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan and Laos, then is their future Chinese?

Telecommunications and 5G is at the heart of this because connectivity can enable rapid upgrades in health and education via digital technology such as telehealth, whereby people in remote villages are able to consult with doctors and hospitals in more developed regions. For example, Huawei has retrofitted Thailand’s biggest and oldest hospital with 5G to communicate with villages in Thailand’s poor interior — the sort of places a new Chinese high-speed train line could potentially provide links with the outside world — offering Thai villagers without the ability to travel into town the opportunity to get medical treatments and consultations remotely. 

The IMF has proposed that Asia’s developing belt “should prioritize reforms that boost innovation and digitalization while accelerating the green energy transition,” but there is little detail about who exactly ought to be doing all of that building and connecting. In many cases and places, it’s Chinese infrastructure and companies like Huawei that are enabling Thai villagers to live as they do in Guizhou.

Chinese Style Modernization?

The People’s Republic of China is “infinitely stronger than the Soviet Union ever was,” the U.S. ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns, told Politico in April. This prowess “is based on the extraordinary strength of the Chinese economy — its science and technology research base, its innovative capacity and its ambitions in the Indo-Pacific to be the dominant power in the future.” This increasingly feels more like the official position of the U.S. government than a random comment.

Ten years ago, Xi Jinping proposed the notion of a “maritime Silk Road” to the Indonesian Parliament. Today, Indonesia is building an entirely new capital — Nusantara — for which China is providing “smart city” technologies. Indonesia has a complex history with ethnic Chinese merchants, who played an intermediary role between Indigenous people and Western colonists in the 19th century and have been seen as CCP proxies for the past half century or so. But the country is nevertheless moving decisively towards China’s pole, adopting Chinese developmental rhythms and using Chinese technology and infrastructure to unlock the door to the future. “The internet, roads, ports, logistics — most of these were built by Chinese companies,” observed a local scholar. 

The months since the 20th Communist Party Congress have seen the introduction of what Chinese diplomats call “Chinese-style modernization,” a clunky slogan that can evoke the worst and most boring agitprop of the Soviet era. But the concept just means exporting Chinese bones to other social bodies around the world. 

If every apartment decorated with IKEA furniture looks the same, prepare for every city in booming Asia to start looking like Shenzhen. If you like clean streets, bullet trains, public safety and fast Wi-Fi, this may not be a bad thing. 

Chinese trade with Southeast Asia is roughly double that between China and the U.S., and Chinese technology infrastructure is spreading out from places like the “Huawei University” at Indonesia’s Bandung Institute of Technology, which plans to train 100,000 telecom engineers in the next five years. We’re about to see a generation of “barefoot doctors” throughout Southeast Asia traveling by moped across landscapes of underdevelopment connected to hubs of medical data built by Chinese companies with Chinese technology. 

In 1955, the year of the Bandung Conference in Indonesia, the non-aligned world was almost entirely poor, cut off from the means of production in a world where nearly 50% of GDP globally was in the U.S. Today, the logic of that landmark conference is alive today in Chinese informal networks across the Global South, with the key difference that China can now offer these countries the possibility of building their own future without talking to anyone from the Global North. 

Welcome to the Sinosphere, where the tides of Chinese development lap over its borders into the remote forests of tropical Asia, and beyond.

[dandelionsresilience]

Good News - March 15-21

Like these weekly compilations? Support me on Ko-fi! Also, if you tip me on here or Ko-fi, at the end of the month I’ll send you a link to all of the articles I found but didn’t use each week - almost double the content! (I’m new to taking tips on here; if it doesn’t show me your username or if you have DM’s turned off, please send me a screenshot of your payment)

1. Comeback on the cards for Asian antelope declared extinct in Bangladesh

“Nilgais, the largest antelope species in Asia, are reappearing in northwestern Bangladesh, a country that was part of their historical range but where they were declared locally extinct in the 1930s due to habitat loss and hunting.”

2. Tribal Homes in Minnesotta [sic] Get $1.4M for Clean Electricity

““This grant will allow us to make electrification improvements to our members’ homes and involve them more directly in our efforts to change our energy narrative and achieve our net zero goal.””

3. Pollinators Flock to Flower-Filled Solar Panel Fields

“As populations of crucial pollinators decline, developers have been seeding the grounds of their solar arrays with native wildflowers. Now a five-year study published in Environmental Research Letters confirms that this approach boosts the pollinators’ abundance and diversity—with spillover benefits for surrounding farms.”

4. U.S. House of Representatives Passes WILD Act

“The WILD Act supports funding two different initiatives: […] the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program offers critical support for voluntary conservation initiatives[, and…] The Multinational Species Conservation Funds play a pivotal role in supporting the conservation of imperiled species globally”

5. Private Gender Affirming Care Ban Fails To Advance In England After "Ferret Filibuster"

“A bill banning puberty blockers for trans youth and defining sex to exclude trans people was blocked from being heard after Labour MPs spoke at length on pet names and ferrets.”

6. Community-Led Effort to Plant Thousands of Seedlings

“Despite its urban surroundings, [the Tucki Tucki] creek serves as a vital refuge for the endangered platypus and purple spotted gudgeon populations. […] Planting native vegetation along the water’s edge serves multiple purposes. Not only does it provide crucial habitat for the endangered species, but it also helps stabilise the banks, mitigating erosion and reducing sedimentation in the creek.”

7. Court Ruling Halts Wolf Trapping and Snaring in Idaho Grizzly Bear Habitat

“[The ruling] will stop trapping and snaring […] to prevent the unlawful take of Endangered Species Act-protected grizzly bears. The decision stated, “There is ample evidence in the record, including from Idaho’s own witnesses, that lawfully set wolf traps and snares are reasonably likely to take grizzly bears in Idaho.””

8. A Boston grocery store is bringing community solar to a low-income area

“A group of energy-equity advocates in Boston is launching a community solar cooperative they say could be a scalable model for both reducing carbon emissions and building wealth in disadvantaged communities.”

9. Two-faced solar panels can generate more power at up to 70% less cost

“Scientists at the University of Surrey have built a new kind of solar panel with two faces, both of them pretty. Their flexible perovskite panels have electrodes made of tiny carbon nanotubes. These can generate more power with greater efficiency and at a cost 70% lower than existing solar panels.”

10. It's a boy! Athens zoo welcomes birth of rare pygmy hippo

“A rare and endangered pygmy hippopotamus has been born in Athens’ Attica Zoological Park for the first time in 10 years, delighting conservationists. A lack of male pygmy hippos in captivity had complicated breeding efforts, so zoo staff were “absolutely thrilled” the baby was a boy”

March 8-14 news here | (all credit for images and written material can be found at the source linked; I don’t claim credit for anything but curating.)

[follow-up-news]

Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus will head Bangladesh’s interim government after longtime Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled the country amid a mass uprising that left hundreds of people dead and pushed the South Asian nation to the brink of chaos. The decision, announced early Wednesday by Joynal Abedin, the press secretary of the country’s figurehead President Mohammed Shahabuddin, came during a meeting that included military chiefs, organizers of the student protests that helped drive Hasina from power, prominent business leaders and civil society members. A longtime political opponent of Hasina, Yunus is expected to return soon from Paris, where he is advising Olympic organizers, media reports said. An economist and banker, he was awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for his work developing microcredit markets. Yunus has been hailed for bringing thousands out of poverty through Grameen Bank, which he founded in 1983, and which makes small loans to businesspeople who wouldn’t qualify for regular bank loans. Other members of the new government would be decided soon, after discussions with political parties and other stakeholders, Abedin said. The president had dissolved Parliament on Tuesday, clearing the way for an interim administration and new elections.

[particularj]

The UN Chief has invoked Article 99 of the charter, something that has not been done since 1971, during a particularly bloody phase of India-Pakistan fighting that resulted in the establishment of Bangladesh.

It calls for an immediate ceasefire under international law, to be voted on by the Security Council.

A couple things could happen:

-If the US votes it down or vetos, it signals what I think is the end of international rule since WWII. A single country being able to stop enforcement of international law to at the highest order so that a genocide may continue would be a death knell to the flimsy frame upholding current international politics and decorum.

-If the US does not somehow block this move, Israel potentially could be charged with war crimes if they continue to fire upon Gaza. It’s unclear what will happen from there, since that is a long process and over 17,000 are already dead in Gaza in less than 60 days.

In any case, I suspect that Netanyahu is being set up to be the fall guy for all of Israel’s actions. A couple far right cabinet members may go with him. Think, essentially, what is happening to Trump or what did happen to Milosevic. The occupationist establishment is willing to sacrifice an aging maniac to avoid any real consequences to Israel as a whole. This gives them time to continue expanding into the West Bank, control Gaza so it remains a disaster zone, and wait for an opportunity to push further next time Hamas or another entity that arises from this dares to fight back.

Netanyahu’s government already responded, saying a ceasefire is unacceptable and calling the UN Sec. General’s letter is a “new moral low” and shows their “bias” against Israel, that they will not stop until Hamas is defeated (something that is very unlikely through military action and is really an excuse to commit genocide, kill UN officials, kill journalists, and destroy civil and resistance infrastructures.)

Don’t stop taking about Palestine. Don’t stop talking about Sudan. Bring attention to these atrocities and demand action / donate to relief / spread the word / protest in any way you can.

[dailyanarchistposts]

Water is essential for all life on Earth. But one-third of the world’s population do not have access to a supply of safe drinking water (a situation that is worsening). A third of all deaths in the world are the results of water-borne diseases. Water is a limited but endlessly renewed resource; its pollution, mismanagement and overuse by corporations, governments and people (turned into ‘consumers’ in a world that is not of their making) threaten to turn a global crisis into a long-term planetary disaster. The Vice-President of the World Bank, Ismail Seregeldin, stated in 1995 that “the wars of the next century will be over water… by the year 2025, the amount of water available to each person in the Middle East and North Africa will have dropped by 80% in a single lifetime”.

Disputes and Wars

40% of the world’s population depend on water from a neighbouring country. Over 200 large rivers are shared by two or more countries. In modern times the existence of vast cities, irrigated agriculture and the demand for hydro-electric power have led countries to claim or steal water resources once used by others. The cutting up of river systems by state boundaries has aggravated the problems of responding to floods. The political and engineering structures that bring economic power and political control to national and international elites also threaten lives and livelihoods. One reason for Turkey’s refusal to grant autonomy to the Kurds is the importance of water resources in eastern Turkey. Attempts to divert the sources of the River Jordan in South Lebanon and the Golan Heights provoked the Israeli-Arab War of 1967. Following this, Israel began to appropriate water supplies to support new settlements and supply towns and industry in Israel proper: Israel annually pumps 600 million cubic metres of water (over 30% of its supply) from aquifers that lie wholly or partly under the West Bank. 115 million cubic metres are allocated to the 1.4m West Bank Palestinians and 30m to 130,000 Jewish settlers; the rest (455 million cubic metres) goes to Israel. West Bank Palestinians have been barred from digging new wells or renovating old ones since 1967. Egypt offered Israel 400m cubic metres of fresh water a year to settle its conflict and assist the Palestinians; but there is still no agreement over water for the West Bank. There is a continuous threat of water wars in South Asia between India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan. Large-scale deforestation upstream results in increasingly widespread flood disasters below. Punjab water was an important contributory factor to the 1965 Indo-Pakistan war. Hindu nationalism has been fuelled by the unfair distribution of India’s water to the Sikh Punjab and led to the storming of the Sikh Golden Temple in Amritsar in 1984.

Modern wars depend on the destruction of the civilian population’s means of life and livelihood. In 1991 in Iraq, for example, the deliberate destruction of power supplies by bombing and war created a huge health problem. Over 90% of sewage treatment plants were disabled with huge amounts of untreated domestic and industrial sewage being pumped into rivers, creating an increase in water-borne diseases. Agricultural production was slashed by the breakdown of the electrically powered irrigation network. Before the Gulf War Iraq produced 30% of its food. Prior to the US-UK assault on Iraq in 2003, the figure was 10–15%.

[khademfoundation]

Helped Flood Victims in Noakhali

Noakhali, a district in Bangladesh, has faced devastating floods that have destroyed the homes of many poor and helpless individuals. Countless families have lost their belongings, homes, and hope due to the relentless floodwaters. These vulnerable people are unable to rebuild their lives after the disaster, left in dire conditions without the means to construct new homes or provide for their basic needs.

The Khadem Foundation has witnessed the immense suffering of these flood victims firsthand. With compassion and a strong sense of responsibility, our foundation has taken the initiative to organize rehabilitation efforts for those affected by the floods. We believe that humanity transcends all boundaries, and in times like these, the only way forward is through unity and support.

We are reaching out to the kind-hearted souls, the peddlers of humanity, to join us in making a difference. A little help from you, according to your ability, can go a long way in restoring hope and dignity to these flood-stricken families. Life is short, but your generous donation will have a lasting impact—helping to rebuild homes and lives that were shattered by this disaster.

Our activities are transparent and will be conducted in full view of our supporters. Every contribution, big or small, can make a profound difference in the lives of those affected by these floods. We sincerely hope for your generous support.

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Your donations will help rebuild homes and restore hope to the people of Noakhali. Let's stand together in the spirit of humanity and compassion.

Together, we can bring hope to those in need.

[indizombie]

Under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year rule, Bangladesh has transformed itself by building new roads, bridges, factories and even a metro rail in the capital Dhaka. Its per-capita income has tripled in the last decade and the World Bank estimates that more than 25 million people have been lifted out of poverty in the last 20 years. But many say that some of that growth is only helping those close to Ms Hasina’s Awami League. Dr Luthfa says: “We are witnessing so much corruption. Especially among those close to the ruling party. Corruption has been continuing for a long time without being punished.” Social media in Bangladesh in recent months has been dominated by discussions about corruption allegations against some of Ms Hasina’s former top officials – including a former army chief, ex-police chief, senior tax officers and state recruitment officials.

Anbarasan Ethirajan, ‘Why is the Bangladeshi government facing so much anger?’, BBC

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[mariacallous]

The concept of “American exceptionalism” has a long history. The Encyclopedia Britannica defines American exceptionalism as the “idea that the United States of America is a unique and even morally superior country for historical, ideological, or religious reasons.” What if American exceptionalism has a different meaning when compared with other industrialized countries? What if, beyond the dominant positive narrative, there lies a negative one?

In 2015, the global community adopted the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with the watchwords “leave no one behind.” It is a framework that recognizes development happens everywhere—not just in the Global South or in “developing” countries. Yet experts, policymakers, and the media still stubbornly categorize countries as “developed” or “developing.” The United States, of course, is part of this “developed” category. Why not? The U.S. economy is the largest in the world and “larger than the combined economies of Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, India, France, and Italy.” The military is the most powerful in the world with the biggest defense budget. The U.S. is home to more top-ranked universities than any other country.

Those narratives, labels, and categories, however, mask the plethora of socioeconomic inequities in the U.S. stripped bare by the pandemic. The people Michael Harrington labeled over 60 years ago as “the socially invisible“ have become more visible since 2020. When numerous other issues are assessed, including poverty in America, as Matthew Desmond reminds us, the inequities not only stack up but the picture that emerges is exceptional only in deeply distressing ways, with development extremely uneven and poverty rates unmoved for decades. On many levels, notwithstanding the size of the economy, the strength of the military, or excellence in higher education, the U.S. has many characteristics more in common with those the World Bank labels as “less developed.”

American exceptionalism in context

Midway to 2030, it is time to not only retire the label of the U.S. as developed but to deploy disaggregated data by race, gender, and where possible, locality—city-level data—and align with SDG targets and indicators to forge more just and healthy communities. In fact, when we have such data, the findings make clear why the SDGs apply to the U.S. and not just the Global South. If that does not happen, numerous communities and millions of Americans will continue to be left behind well beyond 2030.

What follows is not a systematic examination of all the inequities plaguing the U.S. Instead, I offer a few examples suggestive of the larger phenomenon where the U.S. is not meeting the basic needs of millions: reduced life expectancy, spikes in maternal mortality, persistent food insecurity, and poverty levels—none of which resemble peer nations.

These are not new findings, but they have gotten worse in recent years. In 1990, the New England Journal of Medicine published a study looking at the “survival analysis show[ing] that black men in Harlem were less likely to reach the age of 65 than men in Bangladesh.” Fast forward several decades, and shifting to Washington D.C., disaggregated data on the life expectancy of Black men before and during COVID-19 still compared negatively with men in Bangladesh. In 2021, the life expectancy of men in Bangladesh was 73.6 years. For that same year, estimated life expectancy for Black men in the nation’s capital was 65.2. More broadly, the dire declines in life expectancy across several demographics in the U.S.—particularly “the young, the poor, and the vulnerable”—is startling as John Burn-Murdoch reports in the Financial Times.

With regard to maternal mortality, the U.S. has ranked last among industrialized countries for many years. What happens when we pull forward data on Black Americans? The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports a sharp rise in 2021 when Black women experienced 69.9 maternal deaths per 100,000. That rate is just below the 70 deaths per 100,000 that the WHO has set worldwide for the SDG target to reduce maternal mortality. Compare the aggregated maternal mortality rate for the U.S. in 2021: The number is 31 per 100,000 (a 40 percent spike from previous years). In comparison, the average maternal death rates in the UK and in Western Europe were 4, in Eastern Europe 12, and in Central Asia 24 per 100,000 for 2021, according to the Gates Foundation. No wonder some argue that the U.S. is the most dangerous place in the “developed world” to give birth.

In the capital of the world’s richest country, in the fiscal year 2022, 22 percent of its residents relied on the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) to address food insecurity. That’s nearly twice the percentage of Americans in the U.S. that were on SNAP. Most strikingly, nearly a quarter of children (23.9 percent) in Washington D.C., according to the same source, lived below the poverty line. That’s less than but near the number of children in poverty in the poorest state in the U.S., Mississippi at 27.7 percent. Those are exceptional numbers for the richest country on earth.  

More examples of how Americans’ basic needs are not being met could have included the millions who lack access to clean drinking water or sanitation. Tracking these needs and relating them to the SDGs, and then translating percentages into the numbers of people affected would illuminate who is being left behind, a methodology that McArthur and Rasmussen developed to assess the SDGs in Canada. Were such disaggregated data delivered in real time—fixing the current data gaps and lags—they could help drive changes in policies and funds and the conditions of communities.

Not meeting the basic needs of millions of Americans is, alas, not the only way the U.S. is exceptional. Consider that Myanmar, Haiti, South Sudan, Yemen, and the U.S. are the only countries in the world to never have delivered or committed to deliver at least one Voluntary National Review—the way in which the world measures and communicates about the SDGs. When it comes to the rights of the child, the U.S. is the only country in the world not to have ratified the relevant U.N. Convention. (A decade ago, Somalia was the only other country on the list but signed on in 2015.) The U.S. is in the minority to not have signed the Rome Statute and joined the International Criminal Court despite policies advancing human rights around the world. The U.S. has the highest incarceration rate of any country in the world, while the vast majority of the nearly 1 percent of the U.S. population incarcerated are Black, Latino, or Indigenous. The next four countries on the list? Rwanda, Turkmenistan, El Salvador, and Cuba. The era of American double standards—leading Summits for Democracy while appearing on such lists—needs to come to an end.

How to change

Is it problematic to focus on such negative examples of American exceptionalism? Does it feed the “what aboutism” practiced for decades by Soviet and Russian leaders? Does it diminish the misery experienced in other parts of the world where vastly more people’s basic needs are not met?  Do these examples eclipse the leap made in just one generation in my own family—from a shtetl in Eastern Europe to Yale University and the United Nations?

Ignoring, or worse, not even gathering disaggregated data, only reinforces the sorrow and the violence inherent in the inequities experienced by many communities across the country. When we talk about the U.S. as a “developed” country while focusing on the needs of the “developing” world, in effect, millions of Americans are left out of the picture, while directing our gaze to the more “exotic” poor, a point detailed by Anand Giridharadas.

Fortunately, there are ways to tackle these problems. From the first day in office, the Biden administration set in motion numerous policies to address domestic inequities. Some of the policies Congress and the White House enacted in 2021 had swift but short-lived impact: The expanded Child Tax Credit temporarily “lifted 2.9 million children out of poverty” or cut the child poverty rate nearly in half. These policies made sense morally but also strategically; meeting people’s basic needs at home helps leverage the U.S. work around the world to advance democracy and human rights.  The administration has, however, not yet embraced the 2030 Agenda as have all its peers and many others including China. By not committing to the SDGs, the administration is obscuring the development framework that the Obama-Biden administration helped shape and risks continuing to leave some Americans behind at the same time it cedes ground to China internationally. Advancing sustainable development at home and abroad impacts our ability to compete in the world and remain a global leader.  It is time for the U.S. to become exceptional in a way that finally leaves no one behind—here and everywhere.

[hybridmindthoughtsreloaded]

According to the World Bank's 2021 data, 107 countries are currently below Total Fertility Rate. A TFR of 2.1 is required just to maintain population. Did you know there was a depopulation agenda at play?

Albania 1.39 Antigua and Barbuda 1.58 Argentina 1.89 Armenia 1.58 Aruba 1.18 Australia 1.7 Austria 1.48 Azerbaijan 1.52 Bahamas 1.39 Bahrain 1.84 Bangladesh 1.98 Barbados 1.63 Belarus 1.49 Belgium 1.6 Belize 2.01 Bermuda 1.3 Bhutan 1.41 Bosnia and Herzegovina 1.35 Brazil 1.64 British Virgin Islands 1 Brunei Darussalam 1.78 Bulgaria 1.58 Cabo Verde 1.9 Canada 1.43 Channel Islands 1.46 Chile 1.54 China 1.16 Colombia 1.72 Costa Rica 1.53 Croatia 1.62 Cuba 1.44 Curacao 1.38 Cyprus 1.32 Czechia 1.83 Denmark 1.72 Dominica 1.6 Ecuador 2 El Salvador 1.8 Estonia 1.61 Finland 1.46 France 1.83 French Polynesia 1.7 Germany 1.58 Gibraltar 1.89 Greece 1.39 Greenland 1.8 Grenada 2 Hong Kong SAR, China 0.8 Hungary 1.59 Iceland 1.82 India 2.03 Iran 1.69 Ireland 1.72 Isle of Man 1.56 Italy 1.25 Jamaica 1.35 Japan 1.3 Korea, Dem. People's Rep. 1.81 Korea, Rep. 0.81 Kosovo 1.52 Latvia 1.57 Liechtenstein 1.53 Lithuania 1.34 Luxembourg 1.38 Macao SAR, China 1.09 Malaysia 1.8 Maldives 1.7 Malta 1.14 Mauritius 1.41 Mexico 1.82 Moldova 1.81 Montenegro 1.75 Nepal 2.03 Netherlands 1.62 New Caledonia 2.02 New Zealand 1.64 North Macedonia 1.6 Norway 1.55 Poland 1.33 Portugal 1.38 Puerto Rico 0.91 Qatar 1.8 Romania 1.8 Russian Federation 1.5 Serbia 1.48 Singapore 1.12 Sint Maarten (Dutch part) 1.58 Slovak Republic 1.64 Slovenia 1.64 Spain 1.19 Sri Lanka 1.99 St. Kitts and Nevis 1.53 St. Lucia 1.4 St. Vincent and the Grenadines 1.8 Sweden 1.67 Switzerland 1.52 Thailand 1.33 Trinidad and Tobago 1.63 Turkiye 1.89 Turks and Caicos Islands 1.67 Ukraine 1.16 United Arab Emirates 1.46 United Kingdom 1.56 United States 1.66 Uruguay 1.49 Vietnam 1.94 Virgin Islands (U.S.) 2.01

[job-circular-app]

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[allthebrazilianpolitics]

BRICS expansion would be a sign of China’s growing influence

Tensions within the group continue to simmer, but it is here to stay

SINCE ITS transformation from an investment category into a political club in 2009—when the heads of state of Brazil, Russia, India and China held their first summit—the BRICS grouping has faced countless critics and doubters. Numerous Western analysts pointed to the many differences and disagreements within the group and expected it to have only a limited impact on global affairs.

Yet, defying such expectations, member countries embraced the BRICS grouping and no leader has missed its annual summit over the past 14 years (summits took place virtually during the pandemic). Even significant ideological swings in member countries such as India or Brazil have done little to alter their commitment to the club, and the BRICS, which invited South Africa to join in 2010 (hence the capital S), have become something far more important than a yearly photo-op.

In addition to a development bank created in 2014—which has extended more than $30bn in loans so far and which added Bangladesh, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Uruguay as new members in 2021—being a BRICS member involves countless meetings among ministers (in areas such as defence, climate and health) and regular encounters that involve legislators, government agencies, think-tanks and scholars in numerous areas to promote a broader dialogue. It is no exaggeration to say that the BRICS grouping has become an important element of its members’ foreign-policy identity.

Continue reading.

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Small Changes, Big Impact: Simple Interior Design Hacks

In the world of interior design, it’s often the little things that make a big difference. You don’t need a complete overhaul to refresh your space; sometimes, a few simple tweaks can transform your home. Here are some easy interior design hacks that can elevate your living environment without breaking the bank.

1. Change Up Your Lighting

Lighting can dramatically alter the mood of a room. Swap out harsh overhead lights for softer, warmer options. Consider using dimmable LED bulbs or adding table lamps and floor lamps in cozy corners. For a trendy touch, string lights or decorative fairy lights can add a whimsical feel to any space.

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2. Add a Fresh Coat of Paint

A fresh coat of paint can breathe new life into a room. Whether you choose to paint an accent wall or go for a complete makeover, color has the power to change perception. Light colors can make a space feel larger, while deeper hues can create a cozy atmosphere. Don’t be afraid to experiment with bold colors or patterns!

3. Incorporate Mirrors

Mirrors are a designer’s secret weapon. They can create the illusion of more space and reflect light, making your home feel brighter. Try placing a large mirror opposite a window to maximize natural light, or create a gallery wall with smaller mirrors for a stylish focal point.

4. Revamp Your Textiles

Changing up your textiles can instantly refresh a room. Consider swapping out throw pillows, blankets, or curtains for new colors or patterns. Layering textures—like adding a chunky knit throw over a sleek sofa—can create depth and interest in your space.

5. Declutter and Organize

Sometimes, all your space needs is a little decluttering. Go through your belongings and remove items that no longer serve a purpose. Invest in stylish storage solutions, like decorative boxes or baskets, to keep your space organized while still looking chic. A tidy home feels more inviting and spacious.

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6. Embrace Greenery

Plants can enliven any room and improve air quality. Incorporate a few houseplants or even a small herb garden in your kitchen. If you’re short on sunlight, consider low-maintenance options like snake plants or pothos. Adding greenery not only enhances aesthetics but also brings a touch of nature indoors.

7. Art and Accessories

Artwork doesn’t have to be expensive to make an impact. Create a gallery wall with prints, photos, or even fabric swatches. Don’t shy away from mixing different frame styles for an eclectic look. Accessories like vases, books, and candles can also add personality to your space—just remember to keep it balanced!

8. Furniture Arrangement

Sometimes, simply rearranging your furniture can change the entire feel of a room. Experiment with different layouts to find the most functional and aesthetically pleasing setup. Consider flow and conversation areas; moving a sofa or chair can make the space feel more inviting and open.

Conclusion

Transforming your home doesn’t require a massive budget or extensive renovations. With these simple hacks, you can create a more inviting and stylish environment that reflects your personality. Start small, and you’ll be amazed at the big impact these changes can make. Happy decorating!

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