Matti Välimäki

IOM Spokesperson: Hundreds Feared Missing or Dead Amid Reports of Shipwrecks in Central Mediterranean Geneva/Lampedusa, 26 January 2026 – The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is deeply concerned by reports of multiple deadly shipwrecks in the Central Mediterranean in recent days, which I...

Terrible. "...multiple deadly shipwrecks in the Central Mediterranean in recent days..."
"...preliminary information suggesting that hundreds of people may be missing at sea or feared dead..."
Yet some politicians in the EU say their tough migration policies are working.
www.iom.int/news/iom-spo...

Viestiä saa mielellään välittää! Myyntipuheena vielä että tämä voi olla myös itselle avartava kokemus - oli ainakin itselleni kun pidin päiväkirjaa testijaksolla joulukuussa.

Tiede kaipaa vapaaehtoisia! Haluaisitko seurata pari viikkoa digitaalista arkeasi meidän tutkimushankkeen hyväksi pitämällä vapaamuotoista päiväkirjaa? Kiinnostavat erityisesti liiallisuuden ja yltäkylläisyyden kokemukset.

blogs.helsinki.fi/greenerbits/...

🧵“How do seemingly ordinary people become agents of state murder?” This is one of the guiding questions I ask students in my graduate class on genocide/state violence. With recent events, it is a question many Americans are asking.

I do not have a definitive answer, but here is a reading list: 1/

Arendt’s “banality of evil” is not a claim that evil is small. It is a claim that mass violence can be carried out by people who look ordinary, speak in bureaucratic clichés, and treat murder as procedure. The danger is thoughtlessness, routinization, and careerism. 2/

Browning’s study of Reserve Police Battalion 101 shows how average men became mass shooters through peer pressure, conformity, and step by step escalation. Many were not ideological fanatics. The key dynamic was social belonging, fear of standing apart, and adapting to a violent new norm. 5/

Abschied bis Herbst: Dänisches Digitalministerium kehrt Microsoft den Rücken Beim dänischen Digitalministerium sollen alle Angestellten ohne Microsoft auskommen. Stattdessen werde man Linux und LibreOffice nutzen, sagt die Ministerin.

The Danish Ministry of Digital Affairs is moving away from Microsoft and switching instead to Linux and LibreOffice
www.heise.de/news/Von-Wor...

Preparing presentation slides for this week's GAPS Conference ('Navigating Return Migration') in Antalya.
-My topic: discourse-historical analysis of 'superframes' of the Finnish deportation regime since the 1950s.

#GATEproject #deportation #migration #history

We go live to the White House for its weekly re-enactment of Stalin's Politburo...

there’s a very simple solution to avoid fines: do not violate rules set to protect the rights and safety people

Trump administration halts immigrant visa processing from 75 countries The state department cites welfare use as it pauses visa processing for Brazil, Iran, Russia, Somalia and others The Donald Trump administration has indefinitely suspended immigrant visa processing for people from 75 countries, marking one of its most expansive efforts yet to restrict legal pathways to the United States. The freeze, which takes effect on 21 January, targets applicants officials deem likely to become a “public charge” – who they describe as people who may rely on government benefits for basic needs. Continue reading...

Trump administration halts immigrant visa processing from 75 countries

Kristersson (M): USA borde tacka Danmark – Senaste nytt om Folk och försvar 2026 Rikskonferensen Folk och försvar 2026 pågår i Sälen mellan 11 och 13 januari. SVT liverapporterar med senaste nytt från rikskonferensen.

Swedish PM: US military attack on Venezuela violates international law
www.svt.se/nyheter/inri...

”Turvallisuuden tuottaja, ei kuluttaja.” Suomen suhde Viroon ulko- ja turvallisuuspoliittisen identiteetin peilinä kylmän sodan jälkeen Tässä artikkelissa tarkastelen, miten Suomen identiteettipoliittiset pyrkimykset heijastuivat maan linjavalintoihin 1990-luvulla. Analyysin painopiste on siinä, millainen rooli Virolla oli Suomen ulko...

Juha-Matti Ritvanen tarkastelee artikkelissaan Suomen identiteettipoliittisia pyrkimyksiä 1990-luvulla. Artikkeli keskittyy etenkin Viron rooliin Suomen ulko- ja turvallisuuspolitiikassa.

Artikkeli on vapaasti luettavissa: doi.org/10.37449/enn...

#Suomi #Viro #identiteetti #politiikka #historia

Historiallinen Aikakauskirja hakee toimitussihteeriä. Tehtävä tarjoaa ainutlaatuisen näköalapaikan kotimaiseen historiantutkimukseen ja suomenkieliseen tiedejulkaisemiseen.
Työ on osa-aikainen. Hakemukset ansioluetteloineen pyydetään lähettämään 28.1.2026 mennessä.

agricolaverkko.fi/ilmoitukset/...

More countries, such as Eritrea, are banned entirely due to US travel bans.

Other countries chose not to send a team include Italy, Germany, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Austria, Czechia, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Ukraine, Turkey, Serbia and Switzerland.

World* Championships* 🤷‍♀️

U.S. denies entry to 14 Ethiopian athletes ahead of World XC Championships - Canadian Running Magazine According to a report from LetsRun.com, only four of the 18 Ethiopian U20 athletes had their U.S. visa applications accepted

US vetoes most Ethiopian athletes for the World Crosscountry Championships in Florida by denying their visas. Ethiopia will be unable to record a team result in either the U20 men’s or U20 women’s races, ending its 44-year medal streak.

I’m sure the Olympics and World Cup are going to be fine. 😡

Zwei Jahre nach der Potsdam-Recherche: Von angeblichen „Deportationslügen“ bis zum möglichen AfD-Verbotsverfahren Erfahren Sie, wie sich die Debatte um Remigration und AfD-Verbot zwei Jahre später entwickelt hat und welche politischen Spannungen bestehen.

'Remigration' is on its way to become a #farright master frame, but what does it actually mean? In Germany (somewhat unsurprisingly), that's 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 a legal-constitutional question, with implications for the #AfD. Excellent reporting by Correctiv - in German, but worth a click on 'translate'

The radical right’s master frame remains ethnic nationalism. Remigration is simply one of its logical consequences. First came stopping (or minimizing) immigration; next is pushing people with migrant backgrounds to leave. Expect further radicalization.

This is stunning. Listen to this in Philadelphia.

Thousands singing “Hey-Oh, we won’t be silent while our friends are gunned down.”

Really listen to it.

Digitaalisen kulttuuriperinnön apulaisprofessori (tenure track) Turun yliopiston humanistisessa tiedekunnassa on haettavana digitaalisen kulttuuriperinnön apulaisprofessorin (tenure track) tehtävä. Työsuhde alkaa sopimuksen mukaan vuoden 2026 aikana. Tehtävä on os...

Digitaalisen kulttuuriperinnön apulaisprofessori Turun yliopistossa

ats.talentadore.com/apply/digita...

Haluatko tietää, mitä kaikkea julkaisimme vuonna 2025? Think Open -blogista löytyy tiivis kuvaus kaikista HUPin viime vuoden kirjoista. Kaikki teokset ovat vapaasti luettavissa.
Lue lisää osoitteessa: blogs.helsinki.fi/thinkopen/hu...

#tiedejulkaiseminen #avointiede #openaccess

If you are thinking about pursuing a political science PhD and are interested in authoritarian politics, broadly understood, consider applying for this funded opportunity:

Rasistisesta väkivallasta / terrorista 1980-luvun lopun Suomessa. (Juntunen 2020)

#maahanmuutto #rasismi #historia

Chessboard politics: the contested emergence of EU return and readmission norms The return of migrants residing irregularly within the EU or whose asylum applications have been rejected – a top priority of EU migration policy – remains a contentious issue. Drawing from the lit...

In this #openaccess JEMS article, Sandra Lavenex and I revisit the contested emergence of EU return and readmission norms shaped by ♟️chessboard politics♟️

From the 1980s to today, we identify a growing overlap of cooperation frameworks, renewed negative conditionality, and expanding legal grey zones

UPDATED LIST of countries the Trump administration has threatened to invade, annex, or otherwise attack in the 85 hours of 2026 so far:

🇻🇪 Venezuela
🇨🇺 Cuba
🇬🇱 Greenland
🇮🇷 Iran
🇨🇦 Canada
🇨🇴 Colombia
🇲🇽 Mexico

Insane.

Point of no returns: researchers are crossing a threshold in the fight for funding With so little money to go round, the costs of competing for grants can exceed what the grants are worth. When that happens, nobody wins.

This report in Nature on the costs of competing for & administering scientific grants is shocking: "In other words, European taxpayers will have spent more on the funding process than on the funding itself, and the scientific ecosystem has been drained." www.nature.com/articles/d41... 🧪

AI is Destroying the University and Learning Itself Students use AI to write papers, professors use AI to grade them, degrees become meaningless, and tech companies make fortunes. Welcome to the death of higher education.

On emerging "bullshit education" because of AI

#highered
www.currentaffairs.org/news/ai-is-d...

Haku avoinna! 🔔

Apurahoja voi hakea kaikilla tieteenaloilla paitsi matematiikassa, fysiikassa, tähtitieteessä ja kemiassa (mukaan lukien lääketieteellinen kemia).

📅 Hakuaika päättyy 31.1. klo 23.59.

➡️ Lisätietoja: scientiarum.fi/fi/apurahat-...

#tiedeseura #apuraha #tutkimusrahoitus #tutkimus

The application period for our research grants is now open! 🔔

Applications may be submitted in all academic fields except mathematics, physics, astronomy, and chemistry.

📅 Deadline: 31 January at 23:59.

➡️ scientiarum.fi/en/grants-an...

#tiedeseura #researchfunding #grants #Finland

Uyghurs who fled China are losing protections as Chinese authorities pressure other countries to hand them over, and as America and Europe have grown more hostile towards refugees econ.st/4jfVyum

Photo: Getty Images