THE DIPLOMAT SEASON 4 IS OUT ON NETFLIX. Political warfare, broken trust, power struggles and dangerous decisions. Kate and Hal Wyler are back, and the stakes have never been higher. With Kate trying to contain the political fallout and Hal’s alliance with President Grace Penn threatening to destabilise both their marriage and the country, Season 4 promises another gripping round of political intrigue, ambition and revenge. Keri Russell, Rufus Sewell, Allison Janney and Bradley Whitford are back. If you love politics, power plays and diplomacy, please watch this series. It is packed with the kind of political intrigue, strategic manoeuvring and behind the scenes power struggles that make it so fascinating. Power. Politics. Betrayal. Revenge. Just the kind of drama we signed up for. #TheDiplomat# #TheDiplomatSeason4# #Netflix# #pastoralistchildspeaks#

The Diplomat website retracted an article on Friday, saying that a story about a Ukraine firm was fabricated, and the bylined journalist, one “Kim Hwa-pyeong”, may not exist. “We now know that the journalist fabricated the interview and may not even be who they claimed to be,” the website said. Brendan Ruberry of Semafor yesterday added on X that “Clarissa Jenkins”, another writer for the same website, also did not exist—and her report was graded by a detection service as “100 per cent AI-generated”. . ACCELERATING PROBLEM The problem is likely accelerating. Sophia Gonzales, Ervin B Hoskins, and five other published journalists do not exist, according to a study in September by researchers at OpenAI. The present writer recently raised the issue of “Maya Wang”, the widely quoted China-hostile voice at Human Rights Watch. Her friends say the name was made-up for the wife of former Hong Kong Free Press columnist “Kong Tsung-gan”—who also did not exist—even though he was quoted in the New York Times, CNN, the Guardian, Time magazine, Washington Post, France24, Deutsch Welle and so on. Kong was unmasked as Brian P Kern, a US anti-China activist. UK Press Gazette reported on September 18 that the widely quoted art therapist "Dr Eleni Nicolaou", quoted in Forbes, Psychology, Vice and Glamour, appeared to be AI-generated. While it is not illegal to use a pen name or to add a “name changed to protect the innocent” disclaimer in an upfront manner, any practice that deceives readers is considered unethical in journalism. This can be a particular issue when there is a clear political purpose, as in the case of Mrs Kern, or an ethnicity-switching aspect, as in the case of her husband’s “yellowface” writings. . GENERATING FAKE FACES In the past five or six years, AI-powered scams have made these scams easier, as fake faces can be generated. In 2020, “Martin Aspen”, a researcher who produced a lengthy report on Hunter Biden’s dealings in China, turned out to be a fake identity with an AI-generated face. The project was financed by Apple Daily, run by Trump-fanatic publisher Jimmy Lai. . .

"Regional ambitions", "expanding the Military Footprint", "extend military reach", "a foothold in Southeast Asia", "a new outpost", "carving new military presence", showing "attack" jets, "encircling Vietnam", "quiet overseas expansion", etc. Can you guess which country gets so much speculation, worded in such loaded vocabulary, as to what its "real" intentions are for opening an airforce training facility in Laos with the local government and army ? International media claim since September 29th that China "has opened its second military base abroad in Ban Keun, Laos", (about 50 kilometers north of Vientiane, close to the Thai border). Both the Chinese and Lao governments officially described the site as a jointly maintained and operated training facility, rather than the exclusive Chinese military base that Western media report on. China’s Ministry of National Defense stated that the center is meant to help train Lao Air Force pilots, is not directed against any third party, and does not feature an independent Chinese garrison or exclusive PLA control. Lao officials and military representatives have pushed back against foreign media labels of a "military base," pointing out that Laos's constitution does not permit foreign military bases on its soil. Reuters deceived and lied about it right off the bat with its headline : "China's latest expansion of its overseas military footprint, which was "carved from a patch of farmland in Laos over the past year." Headlines like this one maliciously imply that on top of military expansion, China is destroying the livelihood of local farmers. In reality, it was already a military airfield used by the CIA-operated Air America airline during the Vietnam War, as a logistics and support hub for secret operations in the region. Not only is it not built on precious farmland, but the site is still certainly as heavily polluted as every other base abandoned by US forces when they are done with a country. It does not stop Western media outlets and security analysts (such as reports by Reuters, NPR, The Diplomat, and the Lowy Institute) to portray the facility as a significant step in China's incremental, low-key military expansion in mainland Southeast Asia. Satellite imagery confirmed a 2,000-meter runway with trainer/light attack jets (such as JL-8 / K-8 aircraft) parked on site. These jets are actually used for counter-insurgency, border patrol, and light strike missions alongside flight instruction. Not exactly a tool of hegemonic expansion. The 2,000-meter-long runway is also hardly a tool of power projection. Such an air strip is too short for large strategic bombers, and the parking apron can only accommodate 22 small training aircrafts. By that logic, should we conclude that the US has already opened its new military base in Taiwan, since former managing director of Taiwan Tsai Ing-wen admitted herself that hundreds of US soldiers were back in Taiwan (including Jinmen and Mazu) to train Taiwanese forces ? And this is just the tip of the iceberg of how many US forces are actually stationed all over the island.

France's deputy chief of mission in Tehran was intimidated by individuals claiming to be members of Iranian security forces, a diplomatic source told AFP. The source said Tuesday that the incident occurred in early October. French magazine Le Point, which first reported the case, said the diplomat was forcibly stopped on the street and subjected to aggressive questioning. France subsequently summoned Iran's ambassador to protest the incident and demand that Tehran ensure the safety of French diplomatic personnel and premises.