Russia’s equivalent to China’s WeChat app, which Beijing uses for online surveillance and censorship.

Believe it or not, but I expected such a comment before I posted. What I am wondering is when US surveillance tech is criticized here on Lemmy, you’d never read equivalent comments like, “What about Russia”, “What about China”, …

China has been using its rare earth quasi-monopoly as some sort of bullying and coercion to gain political influence in other areas that are completely unrelated to mining. And it is also a big economic issue. Just today, China’s Zijin Mining Group - the world’s third-biggest metals miner by market value - fears that ‘geopolitical confrontation’ and ‘resource nationalism’ will pose challenges to its overseas projects.

This is an op-ed published by Euronews, which is owned by investors close to EU-critical Viktor Orban.

Yes, I know. But what I mean is a global study comparing the situation across all different continents.

Every few days an article erupts about how data centers in Europe are drying up the continent. I don’t question this, but as the US and China are said to lead the way in AI and data center infrastructure, how is the situation there? Is there a global comparison?

I only know of a study regarding China (which is known to have severe water problem) from 2024. It says, among others:

Already, before the explosion of AI & chatbots, national exposure across various types of water risks are high:

• 46% of China’s national data centre racks are located in the Dry 10, which are as dry as the Middle East.
• At least 41% of China’s national data centre racks are located in regions that are highly prone to drought while at least 28% are in areas that are highly prone to floods; at least a fifth are very prone to both.
• 56% of China’s data centre racks are located in coastal regions vulnerable to storm surge & sea level rise.
• Water risks can also disrupt power generation and data centres will face double whammy risks especially in hydropower reliant provinces

Here is the source (open pdf)

But this is only China. Maybe someone knows where to get comparable data from around the globe.

An economic model by the University of Auckland suggests that under the new Trump tariffs most economies lose – the US more than many

• The tariffs reduce US annual GDP by 0.36%. This equates to US$108.2 billion or $861 per household per year
• Switzerland’s GDP decreases by 0.47%, equivalent to $1,215 per household per year. Proportional GDP decreases are also relatively large for Thailand (0.44%) and Taiwan (0.38%) which equates to US$134 and US$330 per household, respectively.
• GDP decreases are relatively large for China ($66.9 billion) and the European Union ($26.6 billion) - US$139 and US$139 per household, respectively.
• Australia and the United Kingdom gain from the tariffs ($0.1 billion and $0.07 billion respectively), primarily due to the relatively low tariffs levied on these countries. Despite facing relatively low additional tariffs, New Zealand’s GDP decreases by 0.15% ($204 per household) as many of its agricultural exports compete with Australian commodities, which are subject to an even lower tariff.

Once upon a time in East Africa the homo sapiens migrated to the other world areas. So we post everything in ‘Africa’ now?

If this is an explanation, you can eliminate the communities completely, because everything is connected with everything.

Why is this in ‘Europe’?

Honest question: As it is said that the US and China are leading the way in AI, are they also running in local water worries then? Especially China has a severe water shortage in the country afaik.

What is the ‘evil’?

Quick reminder what caused the protests that have been going on in Serbia since November 2024.

Three weeks ago, six people, including a former Serbian minister, were arrested on Friday over their involvement in reconstruction of a railway station in Serbia’s Novi Sad, whose roof collapsed last November killing 16 and triggering Serbia’s biggest anti-government protests in decades.

… The six are suspected of inflating invoices from a consortium of the two Chinese companies - China Railway International Co and China Communications Construction Co - who were given the task of reconstructing both the railway station at Novi Sad and tracks, the [official] statement said.

They are suspected of damaging the state budget by $115.6 million, the statement said, and also said that by inflating invoices the Chinese consortium benefited by $18.8 million, but gave no further details …

Here is a more readable report about that.

Romania to buy Israeli anti-aircraft systems for $2.3 bln – (21 July 2025)

If children are propagandized it will hurt the entire (future) society.

Good. Any agreement with Putin would be nothing but a new Neville Chamberlain moment …

History shows that no ceasefire or treaty with Russia can be trusted – (May 2024)

An article about Europe’s rearmament that doesn’t call out Russia as the aggressor of the war in Ukraine nor Moscow’s supporters for this genocide like China and North Korea, misses the point completely. These guys at Aoav don’t understand a thing (or don’t want to).

Addition especially for the one who downvoted: Russia’s action while Putin was in Alaska for ‘peace talks’

Russian attacks on Ukraine kill 10, including 2 children

• An entire family among the dead
• Strikes come ahead of Zelenskiy-Trump peace talks
• Zelenskiy describes attacks as ‘demonstrative and cynical’

And:

Ukraine Civilian Deaths in July Reach Highest Monthly Toll Since 2022, UN Reports

According to the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU), 286 civilians were killed and 1,388 injured in July—the highest monthly figures since May 2022 and exceeding those recorded in June 2025. HRMMU confirmed civilian casualties in 18 of the country’s 24 regions.

@Saleh@feddit.org

taking actual responsibility would be far more costly.

How much would that cost in that case?

As a side note, Chinese state-controlled propaganda outlet South China Morning Post reports on the Trump-Putin summit that “Ukraine-Russia land swap, security guarantees ‘largely agreed’”, citing Trump saying that “many points” were negotiated “on behalf of Ukraine and on behalf of the whole Nato situation” in a “very warm meeting.”

At the same time, according to the South China Morning Post, Trump “warned that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ‘has to’ accept what was agreed” and that “the European Union have [sic] to get involved a little bit next”.

Here is the archived link for this.

Beijing’s propaganda machine eyeing Taiwan and others is in full force it seems.

Neither me.

Edit: I managed to get an archived version: https://web.archive.org/web/20250815143225/https://europeancorrespondent.com/en/r/farright-patrols-hit-reykjavk

This is a weak journalism imo. The author doesn’t provide a single original quote, citing social media posts and online sources only. This is a serious issue, but I would expect more own research before a piece is published.

No, they intend to join the EU.

Norges Bank Investment Management: The fund - www.nbim.no