It's hard to imagine something as fundamental to computing as the sudo command becoming abandonware, yet here we are: its solitary maintainer is asking for help to keep the project alive.

Archived version

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/7018001

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Tehran’s role in supplying Russia with hundreds of long-range, kamikaze-style drones is long known. But what has gone largely unnoticed outside Ukraine is Iran’s central role in teaching Russia to produce these drones itself.

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Since probably about early 2022, Tehran has been providing drones and drone technology to Russia for use in Ukraine. Later that year, Russia and Iran signed the agreement to set up a production plant in Russia for Iranian-designed attack drones.

With Iranian blueprints and technology, a production plant in Tatarstan in western Russia now produces large numbers of drones originally designed by Iran. At this factory, Russia manufactures the Geran-2, Moscow’s name for the Iranian Shahed-136 strike drone.

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Russia uses the Geran and other longer-range Iranian and Russian models to purposefully target civilians and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, including residential housing in Ukrainian cities. Russia has even targeted first responders and humanitarian distribution points, according to a United Nations account.

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Iran also benefits from this terror campaign. Reeling from the economic impact of sanctions, Iran will make an estimated US$1 billion to $1.75 billion from the deal for drones and the production facility. Russia is reportedly paying Iran a portion of the bill in gold.

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But the main beneficiary of this relationship is Moscow. Without Iranian support, Russia would face more difficult trade-offs on the battlefield. The lower-cost drones allow Russia to preserve its expensive advanced missiles for the most significant targets in Ukraine and to employ large swarms of drones to target Ukrainian infrastructure.

And with the ground offensive yielding little progress of late for Moscow, that could be crucial as the war enters its fifth year.

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Tehran’s role in supplying Russia with hundreds of long-range, kamikaze-style drones is long known. But what has gone largely unnoticed outside Ukraine is Iran’s central role in teaching Russia to produce these drones itself.

...

Since probably about early 2022, Tehran has been providing drones and drone technology to Russia for use in Ukraine. Later that year, Russia and Iran signed the agreement to set up a production plant in Russia for Iranian-designed attack drones.

With Iranian blueprints and technology, a production plant in Tatarstan in western Russia now produces large numbers of drones originally designed by Iran. At this factory, Russia manufactures the Geran-2, Moscow’s name for the Iranian Shahed-136 strike drone.

...

Russia uses the Geran and other longer-range Iranian and Russian models to purposefully target civilians and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, including residential housing in Ukrainian cities. Russia has even targeted first responders and humanitarian distribution points, according to a United Nations account.

...

Iran also benefits from this terror campaign. Reeling from the economic impact of sanctions, Iran will make an estimated US$1 billion to $1.75 billion from the deal for drones and the production facility. Russia is reportedly paying Iran a portion of the bill in gold.

...

But the main beneficiary of this relationship is Moscow. Without Iranian support, Russia would face more difficult trade-offs on the battlefield. The lower-cost drones allow Russia to preserve its expensive advanced missiles for the most significant targets in Ukraine and to employ large swarms of drones to target Ukrainian infrastructure.

And with the ground offensive yielding little progress of late for Moscow, that could be crucial as the war enters its fifth year.

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/6947931

Archived version

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According to various reports received by Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO), security forces have been cracking down on health personnel and volunteers who have fulfilled their humanitarian duty by helping treat wounded protesters. Security agencies appear to be aiming to intimidate the public and obstruct treatment for injured protesters by arresting doctors and raiding makeshift medical shelters.

An informed source told IHRNGO: “A doctor in Ardabil has been arrested in recent days for treating individuals injured during the Ardabil protests.”

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IHRNGO also reports on arrests, incommunicado detention and unknown fate of disappeared:

Weeks after the violent crackdown on nationwide protests which resulted in thousands of people being killed, injured or detained, Iran remains under internet restrictions and a heavy security presence in major cities. There is serious concern regarding the condition of thousands of protesters who are incommunicado following arrest or have been reported missing.

Detained protesters have been denied access to their lawyers of their choice, with many held in undisclosed locations.

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Archived version

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According to various reports received by Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO), security forces have been cracking down on health personnel and volunteers who have fulfilled their humanitarian duty by helping treat wounded protesters. Security agencies appear to be aiming to intimidate the public and obstruct treatment for injured protesters by arresting doctors and raiding makeshift medical shelters.

An informed source told IHRNGO: “A doctor in Ardabil has been arrested in recent days for treating individuals injured during the Ardabil protests.”

...

IHRNGO also reports on arrests, incommunicado detention and unknown fate of disappeared:

Weeks after the violent crackdown on nationwide protests which resulted in thousands of people being killed, injured or detained, Iran remains under internet restrictions and a heavy security presence in major cities. There is serious concern regarding the condition of thousands of protesters who are incommunicado following arrest or have been reported missing.

Detained protesters have been denied access to their lawyers of their choice, with many held in undisclosed locations.

...

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/6904680

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/6904679

Archived version

Sir Keir Starmer is scheduled to travel to Beijing this week, having just approved China’s controversial new “super-embassy” in London. The visit comes amidst increasing concerns about China’s campaign of influence, infiltration, espionage and transnational repression across Britain; and at a time when Xi Jinping is intensifying his crackdown on human rights across China.

Critics would argue now is not the time to go, and certainly not the time to continue to kowtow. Today’s revelation that China has established a network of at least 75 covert influence outposts across the UK, embedded in universities, businesses and diaspora communities, is alarming.

Documented by the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), the findings point to the activities of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s United Front – a body used to coerce, co-opt and influence decision-makers, shape narratives and suppress criticism.

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But this is just the latest in a series of alarming reports of Beijing’s antics – and the British Government’s utter failure to tackle them. Last October, the prosecution of two alleged China spies collapsed when the Government refused to describe China as a threat to national security.

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Academic freedom has been increasingly threatened. Last November, Sheffield Hallam University halted research led by Prof Laura Murphy into forced labour in supply chains, under pressure from Beijing.

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Beijing’s transnational repression has intensified. Hong Kong exiles who have fled to the United Kingdom seeking refuge have faced threats from CCP agents, and Beijing has placed arrest warrants and bounties on some of their heads.

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One Hong Kong exile, Carmen Lau, was subjected to an obscene campaign of sexual harassment. Even I have received anonymous threatening letters, as have my neighbours and my mother, who was told to tell me to “shut up”.

On top of all this, there is the intensifying crackdown on human rights in China. A British national, 78 year-old media entrepreneur and pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai, has spent the past five years in solitary confinement and is in deteriorating health. He is awaiting sentencing under Hong Kong’s draconian National Security Law, and may well die in jail.

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cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/6904742

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With one human rights group reporting that the number of people confirmed killed has passed 6,000, several young Iranians able speak to the BBC in recent days - despite a near-total internet shutdown - have described the personal toll.

Parisa [a 29-year-old woman from Teheran] said one 26-year-old woman she knew was killed by "a hail of bullets in the street" when the protests escalated across the country on Thursday, 8 January, and Friday, 9 January, and authorities responded with lethal force to crush them.

She herself took part in protests in the north of Tehran that Thursday, which she insisted were peaceful.

"No-one was violent and no-one clashed with the security forces. But on Friday night they still opened fire on the crowd," she said.

"The smell of gunpowder and bullets filled the neighbourhoods where clashes were taking place."

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"Despite the killings on Thursday [8 January] and threats of more killings on Friday, people came out, because many of them could no longer endure it and had nothing left to lose," [Mehdi, 24, another Iranian protester] added.

Mehdi described witnessing multiple killings of protesters at close range by security forces.

"I saw a young man killed right in front of my eyes with two live rounds," he said.

"Motorcyclists shot a young man in the face with a shotgun. He fell on the spot and never got back up."

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Human Rights Activists News Agency (Hrana) says it has so far confirmed the killing of at least 6,159 people since the unrest began, including 5,804 protesters, 92 children and 214 people affiliated with the government. It is also investigating 17,000 more reported deaths.

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With one human rights group reporting that the number of people confirmed killed has passed 6,000, several young Iranians able speak to the BBC in recent days - despite a near-total internet shutdown - have described the personal toll.

Parisa [a 29-year-old woman from Teheran] said one 26-year-old woman she knew was killed by "a hail of bullets in the street" when the protests escalated across the country on Thursday, 8 January, and Friday, 9 January, and authorities responded with lethal force to crush them.

She herself took part in protests in the north of Tehran that Thursday, which she insisted were peaceful.

"No-one was violent and no-one clashed with the security forces. But on Friday night they still opened fire on the crowd," she said.

"The smell of gunpowder and bullets filled the neighbourhoods where clashes were taking place."

...

"Despite the killings on Thursday [8 January] and threats of more killings on Friday, people came out, because many of them could no longer endure it and had nothing left to lose," [Mehdi, 24, another Iranian protester] added.

Mehdi described witnessing multiple killings of protesters at close range by security forces.

"I saw a young man killed right in front of my eyes with two live rounds," he said.

"Motorcyclists shot a young man in the face with a shotgun. He fell on the spot and never got back up."

...

Human Rights Activists News Agency (Hrana) says it has so far confirmed the killing of at least 6,159 people since the unrest began, including 5,804 protesters, 92 children and 214 people affiliated with the government. It is also investigating 17,000 more reported deaths.

...

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/6904679

Archived version

Sir Keir Starmer is scheduled to travel to Beijing this week, having just approved China’s controversial new “super-embassy” in London. The visit comes amidst increasing concerns about China’s campaign of influence, infiltration, espionage and transnational repression across Britain; and at a time when Xi Jinping is intensifying his crackdown on human rights across China.

Critics would argue now is not the time to go, and certainly not the time to continue to kowtow. Today’s revelation that China has established a network of at least 75 covert influence outposts across the UK, embedded in universities, businesses and diaspora communities, is alarming.

Documented by the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), the findings point to the activities of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s United Front – a body used to coerce, co-opt and influence decision-makers, shape narratives and suppress criticism.

...

But this is just the latest in a series of alarming reports of Beijing’s antics – and the British Government’s utter failure to tackle them. Last October, the prosecution of two alleged China spies collapsed when the Government refused to describe China as a threat to national security.

...

Academic freedom has been increasingly threatened. Last November, Sheffield Hallam University halted research led by Prof Laura Murphy into forced labour in supply chains, under pressure from Beijing.

...

Beijing’s transnational repression has intensified. Hong Kong exiles who have fled to the United Kingdom seeking refuge have faced threats from CCP agents, and Beijing has placed arrest warrants and bounties on some of their heads.

...

One Hong Kong exile, Carmen Lau, was subjected to an obscene campaign of sexual harassment. Even I have received anonymous threatening letters, as have my neighbours and my mother, who was told to tell me to “shut up”.

On top of all this, there is the intensifying crackdown on human rights in China. A British national, 78 year-old media entrepreneur and pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai, has spent the past five years in solitary confinement and is in deteriorating health. He is awaiting sentencing under Hong Kong’s draconian National Security Law, and may well die in jail.

...

Archived version

Sir Keir Starmer is scheduled to travel to Beijing this week, having just approved China’s controversial new “super-embassy” in London. The visit comes amidst increasing concerns about China’s campaign of influence, infiltration, espionage and transnational repression across Britain; and at a time when Xi Jinping is intensifying his crackdown on human rights across China.

Critics would argue now is not the time to go, and certainly not the time to continue to kowtow. Today’s revelation that China has established a network of at least 75 covert influence outposts across the UK, embedded in universities, businesses and diaspora communities, is alarming.

Documented by the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), the findings point to the activities of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s United Front – a body used to coerce, co-opt and influence decision-makers, shape narratives and suppress criticism.

...

But this is just the latest in a series of alarming reports of Beijing’s antics – and the British Government’s utter failure to tackle them. Last October, the prosecution of two alleged China spies collapsed when the Government refused to describe China as a threat to national security.

...

Academic freedom has been increasingly threatened. Last November, Sheffield Hallam University halted research led by Prof Laura Murphy into forced labour in supply chains, under pressure from Beijing.

...

Beijing’s transnational repression has intensified. Hong Kong exiles who have fled to the United Kingdom seeking refuge have faced threats from CCP agents, and Beijing has placed arrest warrants and bounties on some of their heads.

...

One Hong Kong exile, Carmen Lau, was subjected to an obscene campaign of sexual harassment. Even I have received anonymous threatening letters, as have my neighbours and my mother, who was told to tell me to “shut up”.

On top of all this, there is the intensifying crackdown on human rights in China. A British national, 78 year-old media entrepreneur and pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai, has spent the past five years in solitary confinement and is in deteriorating health. He is awaiting sentencing under Hong Kong’s draconian National Security Law, and may well die in jail.

...

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/6888710

Verified videos emerging from Iran show bodies piled up in a hospital, snipers stationed on buildings and CCTV cameras being destroyed, following the unprecedented crackdown on protests earlier this month.

BBC Verify has been tracking the spread of protests across Iran since they first erupted in late December, but the near total internet blackout imposed by the authorities has made it extremely difficult to document the scale of the state's deadly crackdown on protesters.

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US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) says it has confirmed the killing of nearly 6,000 people, including 5,633 protesters, since the unrest began at the end of December. It says it is also currently investigating another 17,000 reported deaths received despite an internet shutdown after nearly three weeks.

Another group, the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR), has warned that the final toll could exceed 25,000.

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Multiple clips analysed by BBC Verify and BBC Persian show bodies piled up inside a mortuary at Tehranpars hospital in east Tehran. We verified the location of the hospital by matching its interior to other publicly available images and videos of the building, and counted at least 31 bodies in just one video. Another clip shows seven body bags laid on the ground outside the hospital's entrance.

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Protesters have also been seen trying to evade Iran's heavy surveillance infrastructure by disabling CCTV cameras. Footage we verified shows one person in the capital climbing up a post and hitting a surveillance camera several times in an attempt to disable it. A huge crowd of protesters can be seen on the ground and heard cheering as the camera is damaged.

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Snipers have also been recorded on the roofs of buildings. In the north-eastern city of Mashhad verified video shows two men dressed in black on a rooftop of a building in daylight. One man is standing next to a large rifle that is lent against a wall and speaking on the phone. The other man crouches on the floor while smoking.

...

Verified videos emerging from Iran show bodies piled up in a hospital, snipers stationed on buildings and CCTV cameras being destroyed, following the unprecedented crackdown on protests earlier this month.

BBC Verify has been tracking the spread of protests across Iran since they first erupted in late December, but the near total internet blackout imposed by the authorities has made it extremely difficult to document the scale of the state's deadly crackdown on protesters.

...

US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) says it has confirmed the killing of nearly 6,000 people, including 5,633 protesters, since the unrest began at the end of December. It says it is also currently investigating another 17,000 reported deaths received despite an internet shutdown after nearly three weeks.

Another group, the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR), has warned that the final toll could exceed 25,000.

...

Multiple clips analysed by BBC Verify and BBC Persian show bodies piled up inside a mortuary at Tehranpars hospital in east Tehran. We verified the location of the hospital by matching its interior to other publicly available images and videos of the building, and counted at least 31 bodies in just one video. Another clip shows seven body bags laid on the ground outside the hospital's entrance.

...

Protesters have also been seen trying to evade Iran's heavy surveillance infrastructure by disabling CCTV cameras. Footage we verified shows one person in the capital climbing up a post and hitting a surveillance camera several times in an attempt to disable it. A huge crowd of protesters can be seen on the ground and heard cheering as the camera is damaged.

...

Snipers have also been recorded on the roofs of buildings. In the north-eastern city of Mashhad verified video shows two men dressed in black on a rooftop of a building in daylight. One man is standing next to a large rifle that is lent against a wall and speaking on the phone. The other man crouches on the floor while smoking.

...