Thursday, June 19, 2025

Polaris of Enlightenment

Chinese skyscrapers to produce a million pigs a year

Published 1 March 2023
– By Editorial Staff
Experts warn about biosecurity at grotesque facility in Ezhou city.
2 minute read

China’s new pork production is raising pigs in giant skyscrapers to produce more meat after losing much of its production to African swine fever a few years ago.

The facility is described by many as grotesque and experts say the new production increases the risk of further disease spread.

In October last year, China opened the doors to two new twin skyscrapers in the city of Ezhou. The 26-storey buildings will not house working people – they will be used to raise pigs.

From the insemination of sows, to piglets that grow into full-grown pigs, the new pig production facility will meet China’s pork needs and be able to slaughter about 1.2 million pigs each year, reports The New York Times.

China has a great fondness for pork, which used to be eaten only at special feasts but is now part of the everyday diet. China consumes about half of the world’s pork. Meat production is described by China’s government on Twitter as a “profitable high-tech facility”. The plant will have temperature and ventilation controls that will also allow the animals to be fed at the touch of a button. Even the faeces are collected, measured and reused.

The plant is described by many as dystopian and grotesque. Several experts also warn that the facility poses major biosecurity risks. For example, it is common for pig farmers to spread out their farms to reduce the risk of disease. If disease gets into the plant, it will spread like wildfire, says New York University professor Matthew Hayek.

– Intensive farms can reduce the interaction between domestic and wild animals and their diseases, but if a disease enters the farm it can spread between the animals like wildfire, he told The Guardian.

China last had a massive outbreak of African swine fever, a deadly virus for pigs and wild boar, in 2018 to 2020 when it lost about 100 million pigs. The Ezhoue plant will help rebuild production.

Hayek says he’s heard about several reports on biosecurity and sustainability regarding the plant, but there’s little evidence that it’s actually true. Professor Dirk Pfeiffer of One Health at the City Univeristy of Hong Kong agrees, arguing that the more animals crowded in, the greater the risk.

– The higher the animal density, the greater the risk of spreading and amplifying infectious pathogens, as well as the risk of mutation.

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Islam set to become world’s largest religion

Published yesterday 7:19
– By Editorial Staff
Today, there are approximately two billion Muslims, compared to 2.3 billion Christians.
2 minute read

Islam grew about three times faster than Christianity between 2010 and 2020. This is according to new data from the Pew Research Center, which points to higher birth rates and lower rates of conversion as the main explanations.

The global Muslim population increased by almost 21 percent over the past decade. Christianity grew significantly slower, at around 6 percent over the same period. Islam thus grew twice as fast as the world’s population as a whole, which increased by 10 percent.

According to the study, Islam also gained more new followers than all non-Muslim religions combined during the period.

Among the reasons for this development, the higher fertility rate among Muslim women and the lower average age of the Muslim population are particularly mentioned. Between 2015 and 2020, a Muslim woman had an average of 2.9 children, compared with 2.2 children for women who did not belong to Islam.

The net effect of people joining or leaving Islam was small – both groups accounted for about 1 percent in the 2010s.

Distribution based on region. Photo: Pew Research Center

Expanding rapidly

Christianity remains the world’s largest religion, with 2.3 billion followers in 2020. Islam is the second largest, with 2 billion. But while the number of Christians increased, the religion’s share of the world’s population declined by almost 2 percent during the period.

According to the study, the growth of Christianity has been slowed by a large number of people leaving the religion to become non-religious. For every 100 adults who grew up as Christians, the religion lost an average of 11.6 people.

– Islam is set to grow to become the world’s largest religion in years ahead, unless trend lines shift, said Conrad Hackett, senior researcher at the Pew Research Center and one of the report’s authors, according to The Washington Post.

He describes the development as “striking” and notes that Muslims and Christians are now much closer in number because Islam is expanding faster than any other major religion.

The survey is based on thousands of census data and surveys in 201 countries. It covers seven groups: Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, other religions, and people with no specific religious affiliation.

Iran used “undetectable” missile in attack on Israeli intelligence facility

The escalation in the Middle East

Published 17 June 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Images of what is believed to be the missile strike on Mossad headquarters in the capital Tel Aviv.
1 minute read

Iran’s Defense Ministry says it used a new, untraceable missile in the attack on the headquarters of the infamous Israeli intelligence agency Mossad in Tel Aviv and claims that the attack penetrated several layers of air defenses.

In today’s attack, we used missiles that could not be tracked or shot down, said Iranian Brigadier General Reza Talaei-Nik, according to the Iranian state news agency IRNA.

He described the operation as a surprise for the Israelis and warned that they would see more.

Earlier today, Iran said its missile strikes hit a military intelligence center and an operations planning center for Mossad located in the capital Tel Aviv. Images show a column of smoke at what is believed to be the site.

Talaei-Nik added that Israel is not prepared for a prolonged conflict.

– The Zionist regime cannot withstand a long war, he said, adding that Iran’s military has been equipped with advanced systems, some of which “have not even been put into use yet.”

At the same time, the Israeli military has introduced new strict censorship guidelines that severely restrict local media from reporting on missile and drone attacks on Israeli territory, which is believed to be a way of concealing Iran’s actual capacity to strike back and give the appearance of military superiority.

Russia: Kiev and London planning false flag attacks

The war in Ukraine

Published 17 June 2025
– By Editorial Staff
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer with Volodymyr Zelensky.
2 minute read

The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) accuses Ukraine and the UK of jointly planning sabotage operations and false flag attacks with the aim of escalating the Ukraine conflict and making continued dialogue between Moscow and Washington impossible.

In a statement on Monday, the SVR claimed that Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) and Military Intelligence (GUR) are increasingly coordinating their efforts with British intelligence, as a result of what the SVR describes as Kiev’s “mounting battlefield setbacks and deepening moral exhaustion”.

According to the SVR, these sabotage operations and false flag attacks follow a recurring pattern, with the UK responsible for planning and coordination while Ukrainian agents carry out the attacks. The agency pointed to the railway sabotage in Russia’s Bryansk and Kursk regions, which Moscow describes as Ukrainian terrorist attacks, as well as drone attacks on Russian air bases on June 1, as examples of this tactic.

The intelligence service is now warning that the “Anglo-Ukrainian terrorist tandem” is preparing more false flag attacks. The aim is said to be to escalate the conflict, sabotage the dialogue between Moscow and Washington, and influence the US to continue its military support for Kiev.

Planted sea mines and torpedoes

One scenario described is an attack in which a Russian torpedo attack on a US Navy ship in the Baltic Sea is staged. According to the SVR, Ukraine has already delivered Soviet-made torpedoes to the UK. Some of these are intended to detonate at a safe distance, while one is to be left undetonated “as evidence of Moscow’s malicious activity”.

The SVR also points to a possible scenario in which British, Ukrainian, and Northern European actors plan to “accidentally” find Russian sea mines in the Baltic Sea in order to claim that Russia is trying to sabotage international shipping – another type of false flag attack.

“Kiev has become the perfect executor of vile provocations and terrorist acts for perfidious Albion (England)”, the SVR concluded.

The head of intelligence, Sergei Naryshkin, has previously warned of similar British attacks and says that Russian intelligence is well aware of London’s covert hostile activities against Russia.

Israel tightens media censorship after Iranian attacks

The escalation in the Middle East

Published 17 June 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Military censorship has tightened under Netanyahu's leadership.
2 minute read

The Israeli military has introduced new strict censorship guidelines that severely restrict local media from reporting on missile and drone attacks on Israeli territory.

In a circular titled “Rising Lion – IDF Censor Guidelines for Media Coverage of Attack on the Israeli Home Front”, Israel’s chief censor, Brigadier General Kobi Mandelblit, orders editors to take “strict measures” when reporting on missile and drone attacks.

The document warns that details about attack positions, air defense operations, or damage assessments could “assist the enemy” and constitute “a tangible threat to state security”.

According to the directive, media outlets are now prohibited from:

• filming or broadcasting images from impact sites, particularly near military installations

• use drones or wide-angle cameras in impact areas

• reveal the exact addresses of affected areas near security installations

• broadcast images of defense missiles being launched or missiles being shot down.

The directive also prohibits the sharing of videos from social media without prior censorship, with warnings that some images may be “enemy-generated fake news”.

Risk of exposing weaknesses

The new censorship rules are being introduced after a wave of real-time reporting on Israeli attacks inside Iran. In recent days, Iranian and international channels – including Al Jazeera and several social media profiles – have broadcast live images of attacks on Israeli targets, particularly the missile attack on the port of Haifa.

There is now concern within the Israeli military that similar live broadcasts at home could reveal weaknesses in Israel’s defenses.

The tightened media controls follow Iran’s missile attack on Sunday against Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science, a research center linked to advanced military technology, including artificial intelligence, drone warfare, and nuclear research. Iran considers the attack retaliation for Israeli strikes against its nuclear and military infrastructure.

Israel’s censorship measures have drawn criticism from several quarters, with analysts warning that the new rules could severely limit public access to information and make it more difficult to follow the conflict. This could make it much harder to assess the damage, defense measures, and the extent of the attacks.

At the same time, Israel’s military censorship has long been known to be very strict. Media outlets often have to have their material reviewed by the army’s censorship unit before it is allowed to be published, which has made it difficult to report on Israeli abuses in Gaza, among other things.

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