Alexandra Jones I Alpha Juliet

Gedempte Burgwal, Chinatown, The Hague.

I went to Dordrecht.

In agreeing plans for a new Chinese mega-embassy, our govt has prioritised economic expediency over national security, its primary duty. Whilst some sinologists doubt this was the right hill to fight on, the decision displays weakness and will lead to increased Chinese espionage in UK and Europe.

Currently - Playing Spies - BBC Sounds Gordon Corera investigates Russia's new front line of amateur espionage.

SOC ACE researcher Matthew Redhead interviewed by journalist Gordon Corera for BBC Radio4 documentary Playing Spies. Petty criminals and serious organised crime are now being used as tools of spycraft & state threats. Broadcast Sunday 30 November. Listen to it www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Sneeuwvrije daken leiden politie naar hennepkwekerij en drugsvondst Het sneeuwvrije dak van een woning in Almelo heeft de politie naar een hennepkwekerij geleid. Ook in Zeeland ging de politie een pand met een niet besneeuwd dak binnen. Daar werden drugs gevonden.

Classic.
www.nu.nl/binnenland/6...

Wayfaring Stranger

16 Horsepower: Wayfaring stranger
open.spotify.com/track/485bjP...

Wayfaring Stranger

open.spotify.com/track/4hAeEK...
One of the best versions of this favourite. Ties with #16Horsepower for 1st spot. Link to 16Horsepower in the next post.

A young woman without head scarf is lighting a cigarette with flame from a burning photo of ayatollah Khamenei. Iran.

Surely a contender for 'photo of the year'

Bankje in Den Haag met op de armleuning de tekst "Hier is niks".

@alleenslimmemensen.bsky.social

.And this one. Heartbreaking. The Two-Headed Calf by Laura Gilpin 1977. The illustrated version is by Adam Tots (I think).

Vooral boerenzwaluwen - Hirundo rustica - en tientallen huiszwaluwen - Delichon urbicum - zitten zij aan zij op een schrikdraad aan weerskanten van een sloot tussen de weilanden. Op afstand lijkt het of er een zwart-witte slinger langs de sloot hangt.

#VandaagGemaakt in de Drentse #natuur. De trek van veel soorten #vogels is volop aan de gang. Ik zag vanochtend heel wat boerenzwaluwen - Hirundo rustica - en huiszwaluwen - Delichon urbicum - even pauzeren. 🪶

In Sweden, social security fraud has reached a level, where it is now a national security threat. Enormous sums of Swedish tax payers' money are secreted abroad, partly at the behest of or for the benefit of foreign (state) actors.

I have long held the opinion that all legislation (and treaties) should be red teamed by 'criminal' red teamers. And then decide if the pros still outweigh the cons, incl the costs of enforcement.

Swap Around and Find Out: The New Rules of International Digital Economic Warfare - War on the Rocks On Feb. 21, 2025, North Korean state hackers linked to the Lazarus Group pulled off the largest digital theft in history, stealing around $1.5 billion

“Cryptocurrency, once just a niche financial curiosity, is now at the forefront of economic warfare,” argue Adam Zarazinski and Bruno Faviero.

A famous American university president once said that unis shouldn’t be engaged in making ideas safe for students, but in making students safe for ideas.

And I am guessing that TBML makes good use of rules and legislation that were intended to properly regulate licit trade. But that is a hypothesis.

Another example, also from the Netherlands, is the change in legislation that allowed online gambling & betting, including gambling platforms from abroad. No prizes for guessing how that turned out.

The motivation, if I recall correctly, was 'cutting back red tape', but you will understand the consequences.

Every system will be gamed.
Example 1: The Dutch Central Bank is responsible for supervising trust offices (CSPs) in The Netherlands. A no. of years ago, this legal obligation was altered, and the potentially problematic off-shoring business was removed from supervision.

Claude Shannon said: Content is irrelevant to the problem of engineering. I.e. a channel/mode fit for transferring money or value is fit for the transfer of illicit money. Any measure to facilitate licit trade & finance will likely ease illicit trade & finance. 1/2

Policies/legislation intended to solve one issue/problem, of which the 2nd order effect is, however, that it enables illicit finance and moneylaundering. Red teaming legislation.

RFK Jr. in interview with Scripps News: ‘Trusting the experts is not science’ HHS Secretary RFK Jr. sat down with Scripps News for a wide-ranging interview, discussing mRNA vaccine funding policy changes and a recent shooting at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

1. "'Trusting the experts is not a feature of either a science or democracy," Kennedy said."

It's literally a vital feature of both science and of representative democracy.

I've written a fair bit about trust in expertise as a vital mechanism in the collective epistemology of science.

Ukraine-Verhandlungen: Experte warnt – diese Region darf Putin nie bekommen Beim Treffen zwischen Trump, Selenskyj und Europäern in Washington dürfte es auch um Gebietsabtretungen gehen. Eine Region sollte die Ukraine laut dem Experten nicht hergeben.

‘Der Politikwissenschaftler Carlo Masala befürchtet verheerende Konsequenzen für die Ukraine, sollte Russland im Zuge von Friedensgesprächen auf einer Abtretung des gesamten Donbass im Osten des Landes bestehen’.
www.t-online.de/nachrichten/...

Example: Former PM of Dagestan gets run over by a car and killed. Little to no information on who hit him or how it happened.

Very specific information on the car that ran him over.

ru.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%90%...

I did, and it was worth it. The engineering mindset helps a lot. I like the way you think.

Paintings by Simon Palmer

Fantastic!

IT'S HAPPENING FOLKS!

My Valleys book is being printed!

Design by
@seanrees.bsky.social

Print by
WithPrint

Paper by
GF Smith

And a few photos by me!

Can't to get these in the post to you all!

Op deze dag in 2005 overleed Marten Toonder, de geestelijk vader van Ollie B. Bommel en Tom Poes. Hij schreef prachtige verhalen waarin onze samenleving kritisch beschouwd wordt. Ook geniale neologismen die nog altijd gebruikt worden als denkraam, minkukel, bovenbaas en dorknoper

Massive fraudulent flag operation linking over 20 separate fake sites uncovered A Lloyd’s List investigation has revealed the connections between the rapidly growing number of fraudulent ship registries being used by hundreds of sanctioned ships globally

Worked with @lloydslisted.bsky.social to uncover a massive network of fraudulent ship registry websites, many listed as official flag state contacts in the IMO GISIS website: