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WTF!?

On June 20, Belgorod volunteer Nadezhda Rossinskaya, 30, also known as Nadine Geisler, was sentenced to 22 years in prison on charges of treason and aiding terrorism. At the start of the full-scale war, the volunteer group she founded, Army of Beauties, actively helped Ukrainian refugees. Later, Geisler left for Georgia, but then returned to Russia and was detained in February 2024. The grounds for her arrest under the article on “public calls for activities against state security” was an Instagram post calling for donations to the Ukrainian Azov battalion. The activist denied any involvement with this account. She was subsequently charged with “treason” and “aiding terrorism.”

Geisler’s case was heard by the 2nd Western District Military Court in part behind closed doors. Two Mediazona sources claim that before the trial began, FSB officers strongly discouraged Belgorod journalists from covering it. Many details are still unknown, but the activist’s closing statement, in which she refutes the investigation’s version point by point, sheds some light on the indictment.

In particular, she mentions accusations of directing drones in the Kharkiv region, although her passport did not contain any marks about crossing the Ukrainian border. As well as testimony against her given by her sister, who was brought to court from a psychoneurological hospital, accompanied by a nurse.

When women describe Afghanistan as hell, you need to understand that they are not exaggerating. For centuries, women in this country have been harassed, tormented and punished in various ways; deprived of their right to education, removed from all social spheres, punished in extrajudicial tribunals, forced marriages and honour killings, and threatened with physical and psychological violence. Afghan society is defiantly patriarchal, blending together bizarre traditions and widespread sexism to create a true hell. In the hellscapes that populate religions, people are condemned for their sins, but in ours women are punished for their innocence.

The participation of women in Afghanistan has always depended on the decisions of men. If a woman wants to enter and secure her place in society, the first obstacle she faces is the closed door of her home, sealed against her by a male member of her family. If some women manage to open this door, the government has made sure to block any avenue of social growth to them. The only thing left for Afghan women to do is to cry behind the closed doors that bar their access to schools, universities, offices or even entertainment venues.

But the occasional permissiveness and overwhelming constraints actioned by these opening and closing doors does not apply to all Afghan women, only to women in the big cities and to women in those provinces experiencing instability in their social status amid the waves of political change in the country. In rural areas, however, centuries of shifts in the country’s political make-up have had no impact whatsoever on many women’s lives. These rural women are neither exposed to nor benefit from any intermittent loosening of social rules, and their lives often remain stagnant. In the remote areas where those women live, women’s issues are resolved by men who rely on tradition. For them, social growth is a strange concept. I am a Pashtun woman from the southeast of Afghanistan, and I want to write about the women of this region, also from the Pashtun tribe, who are facing immense difficulties.

And we are back

• At least seven civilians killed and dozens injured in 3 June strike
• Attacks using unguided Grad rockets must be investigated as war crimes
• “Inherently inaccurate weapons must not be fired at areas densely populated with civilians” – Brian Castner

Analysis: Iran's Attack On US Air Base In Qatar Highly Symbolic

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/27850191

Satellite imagery taken after the US strike on Iran's Fordow site showed smoke rising from the fuel enrichment plant. US President Donald Trump claimed key Iranian nuclear sites had been "obliterated," while Iran claimed it had removed nuclear material from the sites before the strikes.

Pro-Palestinian activists broke into Britain’s largest air base and damaged two military aircraft in central England early Friday.

Palestine Action, a UK-based group that aims to disrupt the operations of weapons manufacturers supplying the Israeli government, posted footage of the action to its X account.

The video shows two people riding on electric scooters on the tarmac of RAF Brize Norton, in Oxfordshire.

The activists can be seen spraying red paint into the turbine engines of two Airbus Voyagers, which they said were targeted for their alleged role in carrying military cargo and for their use in refueling Israeli, American and British military aircraft and fighter jets.

As Israel and Iran trade blows in a quickly escalating conflict that risks engulfing the rest of the region as well as a more direct confrontation between Iran and the U.S., social media is being flooded with AI-generated media that claims to show the devastation, but is fake.

The fake videos and images show how generative AI has already become a staple of modern conflict. On one end, AI-generated content of unknown origin is filling the void created by state-sanctioned media blackouts with misinformation, and on the other end, the leaders of these countries are sharing AI-generated slop to spread the oldest forms of xenophobia and propaganda.

If you want to follow a war as it’s happening, it’s easier than ever. Telegram channels post live streams of bombing raids as they happen and much of the footage trickles up to X, TikTok, and other social media platforms. There’s more footage of conflict than there’s ever been, but a lot of it is fake.

A few days ago, Iranian news outlets reported that Iran’s military had shot down three F-35s. Israel denied it happened. As the claim spread so did supposed images of the downed jet. In one, a massive version of the jet smolders on the ground next to a town. The cockpit dwarfs the nearby buildings and tiny people mill around the downed jet like Lilliputians surrounding Gulliver.

It’s a fake, an obvious one, but thousands of people shared it online. Another image of the supposedly downed jet showed it crashed in a field somewhere in the middle of the night. Its wings were gone and its afterburner still glowed hot. This was also a fake.

Prisons have become a fragile link in many criminal justice systems, weakened by over-incarceration, overcrowding, poor conditions and chronic neglect – fuelling calls for urgent reform.

A decade ago, the UN General Assembly adopted the Nelson Mandela Rules — a set of 122 guidelines setting minimum standards for the treatment of prisoners, inspired by one of the world’s most influential former political prisoners – the South African civil rights icon, Nelson Mandela.

These rules aim to ensure safety, security and respect for human dignity, offering clear benchmarks for prison staff.

Despite this, prison systems worldwide continue to face deep-rooted challenges. The General Assembly convened on Friday to discuss how to better protect societies from crime by focusing on rehabilitation and preparing inmates for life after prison.