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U.S. Finalizes Rule Restricting Investment in Chinese Tech Firms
The Treasury Department on Monday finalized a new rule meant to prevent U.S.-based people and companies from investing in the development of a range of advanced technologies in China, thereby preventing Beijing from accessing cutting-edge expertise and equipment.
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Election Skeptics Are Targeting Voting Officials with Ads That Suggest They Don’t Have to Certify Results
The ads, which have been placed in swing states like Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, come from a new group with deep ties to activists who have challenged the legitimacy of recent elections.
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False Narratives Around the 2024 Presidential Election
False and misleading narratives about the upcoming 2024 U.S. presidential election are spreading widely among extremists and purveyors of hate and conspiracy theories.
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Mexico Is Offering Water to South Texas. But There’s a Catch Farmers Aren’t Happy About.
Farmers say they want the water, but not if it goes against the allotment they need for the spring planting season.
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U.S. Officials Say Russia Behind Fake Video of Pro-Trump Votes Being Destroyed
Russia, as part of its broad influence campaign to help Donald Trump win the November election, has released a fake video, which has been circulating on social media, purporting to show the destruction of mail-in votes cast for Trump in Pennsylvania. The fake video is the latest in a series of fake videos produced by an offshoot of the St. Petersburg-based Internet Research Agency, which helped Trump win the 2016 election.
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How Is the Kremlin Meddling In 2024 Elections? Here Are 5 Tactics.
Russia’s Plan A is always to cooperate with mainstream forces and then corrupt them to align with Russian foreign policy interests. In Plan A fails, Russia falls back on Plan B, which is aligning with far-right parties -– but, at times, even forming alliances with far-left parties. For the Kremlin, the cheapest and most efficient way of boosting its allies is to flood the market with disinformation.
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Threatening ‘The Enemy Within’ with Force: Military Ethicists Explain the Danger to Important American Traditions
In a time of increasing political polarization, military educational institutions are focusing even more explicitly on the oath military members take to the Constitution, rather than to a person or an office. Military members have a duty to obey orders from superior officers, but the content of an order is not the only factor that determines whether it is a moral one. The political motivation for an order may be equally important, because the military’s obligation to stay out of politics is deeply intertwined with the mutual obligation of civilian officials not to use the military for partisan reasons.
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Is Donald Trump a Fascist? Here’s What an Expert Thinks
Experts are divided over the question of whether or not the term “Fascist” applies to Donld Trump. New York University professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat says she is still divided on the issue. She wrote that “in some ways, the label of Fascism is too reductive for Trump” because he “praises Communist dictators as much as he praises the Fascistic leaders,” but “it is beyond doubt that Trump has provided a new stage and a new context for fascist ideologies and practices.”
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Emerging Tech and Terrorism: Adoption Patterns and Implications
The diffusion of innovation theory highlights that most organizations, groups, and individuals adopt innovations in the mid-to-late product lifecycle. This applies to technology adoption by terror groups: most violent non-state actors will adopt technology once it has crossed several thresholds, including cost, availability, testing (i.e., proof of concept), and ease of use.
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‘Firehose’ of Election Conspiracy Theories Floods Final Days of the Campaign
In the final days of the presidential election, lies about noncitizens voting, the vulnerability of mail-in ballots and the security of voting machines are spreading widely over social media. Polls show that election disinformation fanned by former President Donald Trump and notable allies such as tech tycoon Elon Musk, is warping voters’ faith in the integrity of the democratic process.
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Threats of Political Violence Are Distorting Reality
Mobilizations by extremist groups in 2024 are on track to be at their lowest level since 2020, according to a new report, but public officials — particularly those who work on elections — continue to face hostile threats.
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Don’t Panic Reading ‘Electoral Process Porn’: There Are Plenty of Safeguards to Make Sure Voters’ Wishes Are Respected
Because of all the fail-safes built into the system, even very close is something the election process can handle, sys one expert. “I’m very confident that the voters are going to decide this election, not the lawyers or the courts.”
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Model Reveals Why Debunking Election Misinformation Often Doesn’t Work
When an election result is disputed, people who are skeptical about the outcome may be swayed to accept the fairness and integrity of the election. A new study identifies factors that can make these efforts more successful.
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Right-Wing Activists Pushed False Claims About Election Fraud. Now They’re Recruiting Poll Workers in Swing States.
Elections officials say they welcome skeptics. As the system is secure, they anticipate problems from spreading misinformation rather than interfering with the process.
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Leveraging AI to Enhance U.S. Cybersecurity
Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can potentially provide the homeland unprecedented opportunity to enhance its cybersecurity posture. DHS S&T is exploring the possibilities of using new advances in this technology to detect threats, increase resilience and provide more supply chain oversight.
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The long view
Factories First: Winning the Drone War Before It Starts
Wars are won by factories before they are won on the battlefield,Martin C. Feldmann writes, noting that the United States lacks the manufacturing depth for the coming drone age. Rectifying this situation “will take far more than procurement tweaks,” Feldmann writes. “It demands a national-level, wartime-scale industrial mobilization.”
No Nation Is an Island: The Dangers of Modern U.S. Isolationism
The resurgence of isolationist sentiment in American politics is understandable but misguided. While the desire to refocus on domestic renewal is justified, retreating from the world will not bring the security, prosperity, or sovereignty that its proponents promise. On the contrary, it invites instability, diminishes U.S. influence, and erodes the democratic order the U.S. helped forge.
Fragmented by Design: USAID’s Dismantling and the Future of American Foreign Aid
The Trump administration launched an aggressive restructuring of U.S. foreign aid, effectively dismantling the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The humanitarian and geopolitical fallout of the demise of USAID includes shuttered clinics, destroyed food aid, and China’s growing influence in the global south. This new era of American soft power will determine how, and whether, the U.S. continues to lead in global development.
Water Wars: A Historic Agreement Between Mexico and US Is Ramping Up Border Tension
As climate change drives rising temperatures and changes in rainfall, Mexico and the US are in the middle of a conflict over water, putting an additional strain on their relationship. Partly due to constant droughts, Mexico has struggled to maintain its water deliveries for much of the last 25 years, deliveries to which it is obligated by a 1944 water-sharing agreement between the two countries.
How Disastrous Was the Trump-Putin Meeting?
In Alaska, Trump got played by Putin. Therefore, Steven Pifer writes, the European leaders and Zelensky have to “diplomatically offer suggestions to walk Trump back from a position that he does not appear to understand would be bad for Ukraine, bad for Europe, and bad for American interests. And they have to do so without setting off an explosion that could disrupt U.S.-Ukrainian and U.S.-European relations—all to the delight of Putin and the Kremlin.”
How Male Grievance Fuels Radicalization and Extremist Violence
Social extremism is evolving in reach and form. While traditional racial supremacy ideologies remain, contemporary movements are now often fueled by something more personal and emotionally resonant: male grievance.