Support us by contributing to StratNewsGlobal on the following UPI ID
ultramodern@hdfcbank
Strategic affairs is our game, South Asia and beyond our playground. Put together by an experienced team led by Nitin A. Gokhale. Our focus is on strategic affairs, foreign policy and international relations, with higher quality reportage, analysis and commentary with new tie-ups across the South Asian region.
You can support our endeavours. Visit us at www.stratnewsglobal.com and follow us on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
र 500 per month
र 1000 per month
र 5000 per year
र 10000 per year
Donate an amount of your choice
र 500 per month
Donate र 500 per month
र 1000 per month
Donate र 1000 per month
र 5000 per year
Donate र 5,000 per year
र 10000 per year
Donate र 10,000 per year
Donate an amount of your choice
Donate an amount of your choice
The Venezuela Crackdown: Making Trump’s Finances Great Again?
“Where is America going”, asked a senior former diplomat taking stock of Trump’s high profile “capture” (some would say kidnap) of the Venezuelan president and his publicly declared plans for its future.
“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” Trump said at a briefing at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
“But this is reminiscent of what colonial powers used to do,” said the former diplomat, pointing to the “cutting up nations, societies, killing or deposing local rulers as they willed, is this what the 21st century is going to be about,” he wondered.
What about India? The statement from the External Affairs Ministry made it clear Delhi was not going to stick its neck out for Maduro.
It said “Recent developments in Venezuela are a matter of deep concern. We are closely monitoring the evolving situation. We call upon all concerned to address issues peacefully through dialogue, ensuring peace and stability of the region.”
As another diplomat pointed out, if India criticised Trump “he might turn on us and God knows what he could do.”
Trump’s motivations are no secret, he wants to make money and Venezuela is about that.
“We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country. ”
US oil companies have not commented on Trump’s plans but American refineries were originally built to process Venezuela’s heavy, sticky sludgy oil to produce diesel, asphalt and other fuels. The sense is they have been sounded out and are willing.
They would make money but so would Trump, money for himself, his family, his business not to mention his friends. And Maduro’s friends and neighbours in the region have largely kept quiet.
Those like the Colombian President Gustavo Pedro, who described the US operation as an “assault on sovereignty”, have already received a broadside from Trump in the crudest terms: “He’s making cocaine and they’re sending it into the United States, so he does have to watch his a**.”
Shock And Awe On Weibo, Unease In Beijing Over US Maduro Strike
The capture or kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces was at the top of Weibo’s trending list, becoming one of the most discussed topics on the platform.
The intensity of the reaction reflected two concerns: China buys more than 70% of Venezuela’s oil accounting for 95% of that country’s revenue. Caracas also owes China $10 billion but has been tardy in payments, forcing Beijing to cut back on further investments.
The other concern is about the risks of underestimating U.S. power or resolve. Venezuela has serious implications when it comes to China’s plans for Taiwan and China’s own security.
Many netizens wondered if Beijing should “learn from the United States” when it comes to dealing with Taiwan. Others went further, describing the U.S. raid as a possible model for a future Chinese military operation against Taiwan.
But the presiding image for netizens was how powerful and decisive the U.S. looked. The idea that American forces could carry out a rapid night-time operation inside another country and capture a sitting president has shocked users.
Some questioned whether such an operation could be stopped if Washington chose to act elsewhere. This fear revealed genuine unease beneath the online bravado.
China’s official response reflected this sense of alarm. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it was “deeply shocked” by what it called the U.S. use of force against a sovereign state.
Neil Thomas, who researches and studies Chinese politics at the Asia Society, pointed out on X that the phrase “deeply shocked” (深表震惊) is extremely rare in Chinese official statements. He says Beijing normally reserves this wording for assassinations, terrorism, or major mass-casualty events.
The US military strikes on Venezuela and extraction of Maduro seem to have stunned China, especially if you compare it to Beijing’s reaction to last July’s Iran strike.
MOFA today says Beijing is “deeply shocked” (深表震惊), which per a quick search is a very rare term used only… pic.twitter.com/1ZhtQstgec
— Neil Thomas 牛犇 (@neilthomas123) January 3, 2026
He noted that China accused the U.S. of not only of breaking international law, but of threatening peace and security across Latin America and the Caribbean. He contrasted this with Beijing’s much milder response to last year’s U.S. strike on Iran, which used standard condemnation language and avoided broader claims about sovereignty or regional stability.
Why China Is Truly Alarmed
For China, Maduro’s removal cuts the ground from under a carefully crafted plan to ensure energy security. China has built up its profile in Venezuela over many years and Maduro’s adversarial relationship with the US helped.
Worrying for Beijing would have been comments on Weibo praising the U.S. action and expressing hope that similar power could one day be used against China’s own leadership.
Although these posts were quickly censored, their brief appearance highlighted how unsettling the news was for China’s tightly controlled online space.
What alarms Beijing is the precedent: a fast, targeted U.S. military operation removing a sitting leader without warning. This feeds into long-standing fears of Western-backed regime change.
Could China do the same in Taiwan? The more jingoistic among Weibo users would like to believe so, but the recent US arms package for the island, at over $11 billion, signals Washington’s commitment. No spoken words were needed.
Beijing’s immediate instinct will be to tighten control over online discussion and use the incident to portray the U.S. as reckless and dangerous. But somewhere it knows that its grand plans for taking over Taiwan would need to be revisited.
Venezuela Was About Oil, Next US Target Could Be Critical Minerals-Rich State?
Since the US capture (or kidnap) of Venezuela’s head of state (not the first time, recall Manuel Noriega of Panama in 1989), Latin America has reason to wonder if it presages Washington’s renewed involvement in the continent, overthrowing or destabilising existing governments not for ideological reasons, but something tangible: natural resources. And if it’s oil today it could be critical minerals tomorrow.
Dr Paola Andrea Baroni of Universidad Siglo 21, one of the top universities in Cardoba, Argentina, told StratNewsGlobal that “Maduro’s kidnapping and arrest delivers a severe setback to the Chavista regime without guaranteeing its collapse.”
The distinction is important. A weakened state does not automatically become a governable or compliant one, especially in a country where political power is deeply embedded in security institutions.
“It reinserts Latin America, long viewed as the US’s backyard, onto Washington’s geopolitical radar, spotlighting oil resources as a core driver,” she warns, with “pragmatic realism not ideology driving policy.”
Venezuela’s oil is not merely an economic asset; it is leverage in a global system increasingly defined by energy insecurity and rivalry with China.
Resource-rich states of South America such as Brazil, Colombia and Chile have been critical of the US action, because they know that if the intervention becomes standard for acquiring strategic assets, then this will apply to any resource-rich country.
But Baroni’s warning of instability is well taken: how will Venezuela (or any other South American nation similarly taken over) will be governed, who will represent the country while negotiating with Washington, and how society will respond, suggests that resource control through force may generate instability rather than predictable access.
That unease is echoed in Cuba. Havana described the US operation as a criminal act and a grave violation of international law, framing it as part of a long-standing campaign to reassert U.S. dominance in the hemisphere.
Cuba links the intervention to Venezuela’s natural wealth and warns that the move is intended to intimidate the entire region. The reference to the Monroe Doctrine is not symbolic nostalgia but a claim that resource control is once again being enforced through military means.
Delhi-based Livia Rodríguez, Chief Correspondent of Prensa Latina, has no doubt that Washington seeks “to replace the Venezuelan regime with a puppet regime that will allow the United States and large corporations to steal the oil and all the resources of the South American country.”
She suspects that “Venezuela is the first piece in a broader plan against all of Latin America,” regardless of ideological orientation. In a world racing to secure lithium, rare earths, and other critical minerals essential for energy transitions and military technologies, Latin America’s resource base becomes a strategic prize. Oil remains central, but it is no longer the only driver.
Cuba’s statement reinforces this regional reading. By invoking the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace, Havana frames the intervention as an attack not just on Venezuela but on a collective regional commitment.
Rodríguez also challenges the assumption that such operations succeed politically. Despite the shock of the attack, she believes that “the people are in the streets, but demanding the return of their constitutional president.”
This suggests that interventions designed to secure resources may provoke resistance that complicates governance and disrupts extraction rather than stabilizing it.
The operation in Venezuela cannot be separated from the global rush for energy and critical minerals. Whether this approach strengthens U.S. influence or accelerates regional fragmentation remains unclear. But in an era where oil and minerals shape power, sovereignty itself may become negotiable.
‘Hard Choices, Not Hope, Mark India’s Options In 2026’
India’s foreign and strategic policy in 2026 will be shaped less by optimism than by hard choices, according to Nitin Gokhale, Editor-in-Chief of StratNewsGlobal, who outlined a sobering landscape of challenges during a wide-ranging interview.
At the core, Gokhale argues, lies China. Despite episodic diplomatic engagement and partial de-escalation along the Line of Actual Control, Beijing remains India’s principal long-term competitor. China’s military build-up, economic leverage, and willingness to undercut India in multilateral forums leave little room for complacency. Pakistan, he adds, is best understood as a derivative of this larger China challenge—sustained politically, economically, and militarily by Beijing.
Managing this pressure, Gokhale stresses, ultimately depends on India’s economic trajectory. Sustained growth of around 7 per cent annually is not just a development goal but a strategic necessity, underpinning military capability and diplomatic influence alike.
Alongside China, India’s relationship with the United States presents its own contradictions. While political ties have grown strained—particularly after New Delhi refused to endorse former President Donald Trump’s claims of mediating India–Pakistan tensions—working-level cooperation remains robust. Military-to-military engagement, defence co-development, technology access, and trade negotiations continue largely unhindered. Yet Gokhale warns that a trust deficit at the political level may prove difficult to repair quickly.
Russia completes what he describes as a complex strategic triangle. India has resisted Western pressure to downgrade ties with Moscow, particularly over energy purchases, arguing that its relationship with Russia is autonomous and historically rooted. At the same time, New Delhi watches uneasily as Moscow grows more dependent on Beijing, raising questions about Russia’s role in any future India–China crisis.
These great-power dynamics inevitably spill into India’s neighbourhood. From Bangladesh and Nepal to Sri Lanka and the Maldives, smaller states increasingly hedge by playing China, the US, and India against one another. Gokhale notes that this is not unique to South Asia, arguing that no major power today enjoys uncontested influence in its backyard.
India’s response, he suggests, has been calibrated patience—avoiding overreaction, waiting out political transitions, and positioning itself as a reliable, long-term partner.
Looking ahead, Gokhale highlights three imperatives: keeping the economy strong, accelerating indigenous capabilities in emerging technologies such as AI and quantum systems, and building a military ready for a potential two-front challenge. Equally critical, he adds, is internal security, with new forms of radicalisation and “white-collar terrorism” emerging as underappreciated risks.
For India in 2026, the task is not choosing sides, but sustaining balance in an increasingly unforgiving world.
US Capture Of Maduro Is Actually About Controlling Venezuela’s Oil?
The photograph on X showed Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, hands behind his back, in the custody of two men from the Drug Enforcement Agency. It appears to confirm President Donald Trump’s claim that Maduro and his wife are in the custody of US law enforcement.
Add to that, a media report from Caracas quoting Venezuela’s Vice President Delcy Rodriguez saying “We do not know the whereabouts of President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores, we demand proof of life.”
For now, at least one Maduro ally has vowed to fight on.
“We will not negotiate, we will not surrender, and we will ultimately triumph,” Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino said, framing the events not as the end of the Maduro government, but as the beginning of a broader confrontation.
Former Indian diplomat R Swaminathan believes that “This is not going to open up the space for the Nobel Peace prize winner María Corina Machado,” he said, referring to speculation about an opposition takeover. “Before that happens, the US will have to carry out major operations to remove thousands of generals and followers of Maduro.”
Prof Aparjita Pandey of Jawaharlal Nehru University believes that military pressure may actually reinforce the existing power structure. Rather than weakening Maduro’s camp, it could consolidate it and accelerate an internal succession managed by the armed forces.
Why Maduro?
In other words, Trump has Maduro but his loyalists in Caracas may ensure their regime continues and nothing changes. That would be bad news for Trump who is evidently hoping that with Maduro in custody, he can now control Venezuela’s oil, the world’s largest proven reserves.
So all of Trump’s talk of Maduro heading a drug cartel and trafficking into the US may have some truth to it, but the real reason is oil. For over two decades, Venezuela has operated outside the realm of US policy on oil.
That was an irritant. Why? Because easy access to Venezuelan heavy crude would reduce US exposure to the ongoing uncertainties in West Asia and soften the economic risks of a future confrontation with Iran. In simple terms, it would make escalation elsewhere cheaper and easier to absorb.
Control over oil flows still translates into influence over pricing and currency use, and by extension, the durability of the dollar’s role in global energy markets. That is why the South American nation has never been treated as a purely regional issue.
More Questions
China’s special envoy Qiu Xiaoqi, was in Caracas just hours before the US launched its grab Maduro operation. His presence signals how important Venezuela is to China as an energy supplier. Any forced political change in Caracas would inevitably push Beijing out of a strategic energy relationship it has invested heavily in.
Moscow condemned the attack as “armed aggression” and warned that ideological hostility had replaced pragmatic diplomacy. It reiterated that Latin America had declared itself a zone of peace, and called for the issue to be taken to the UN Security Council.
Neither China nor Russia may fight for Maduro. But both clearly see Venezuela as a test case, one that could set precedents for how far the US is willing to go when strategic resources are involved.
Quagmire Risk?
At this point it’s not clear if US forces remain in Venezuela. But can it afford to get drawn into a long drawn out crisis? It would drain attention and resources and limit America’s ability to project power elsewhere. It would also complicate Israeli planning in the Middle East, which depends heavily on US leverage and credibility.
What happens next in Venezuela will not remain contained within Latin America. If the US succeeds, it will reinforce the idea that force and economic pressure can still be used to reshape sovereign states in strategically valuable regions.
If it does not, it may expose the limits of American power at a moment when rivals are increasingly willing to test those limits. Either outcome will be watched closely, not just in Caracas, but in Tehran, Beijing, Moscow, India and beyond.
As Trump And Tehran Raise The Heat, War Clouds Gather
Are the mass protests in Iran coming to a head? India’s former ambassador to Iran, Gaddam Dharmendra, believes that these protests are different from the mass anti-government demonstrations of 2022 and earlier. If not dealt with urgently, these have the potential to pose a more serious systemic challenge.
“For the 1st time, the bazaaris, an influential merchant class, have shut their shops and come out in protest. This is due to the crash of the Iranian currency, the Rial, which in turn is due to a combination of US economic sanctions and long-standing economic mismanagement. The current protests have brought together whole segments of society, including students, seniors, pensioners, etc, onto the streets,” he told StratNewsGlobal.
A Newsweek report quoting senior academic Alex Vatanka of the Middle East Institute echoes a similar line.
“The point is this regime has mishandled the economy, the society, and he foreign policy. It’s mishandled so badly for so long that you have created this desperation among people for change, particularly younger people who don’t see any hope.”
But Dharmendra does not believe the Pezeshkian Government is in imminent danger of falling.
“It has been 40 years since the Islamic Revolution. The system is deeply embedded, and Iran’s institutional frameworks are strong. The people do receive health, educational and social welfare facilities, whatever their shortcomings. I don’t think the system is going to collapse as it has in Syria or Iraq. It’s much more durable.”
Yet the sabre-rattling is getting louder and worse. In the last 24 hours, Iran’s ambassador to the UN shot off an angry letter to Secretary-General Guterres, urging him to condemn “unlawful threats” directed at his country by President Trump.
Recall that the latter had warned Tehran against cracking down on the demonstrations, saying he was “locked and loaded”, meaning ready to strike Iran. The US is not short of military assets in the region.
Its Fifth Fleet comprising aircraft carriers is headquartered in Bahrain, in Qatar is the Al Udeid Airbase, the biggest in the region with every kind of combat aircraft and bombers, two bases in Iraq house more than 2000 US troops, several bases in Kuwait including one that handles logistics delivery and the Al Dhafra Airbase in the UAE where F-22 jets and MQ-9 drones are stationed.
But Indian diplomats who monitor the region and the protests closely warn that while Iran has been debilitated by sanctions, it still retains the ability to hit back. It can mine the Strait of Hormuz through which 20% of the world’s supply of oil transits. Those mines can also bottle up the US Navy and limit its movement.
The larger danger, diplomats say, is that any blockade in the supply of oil could see prices shoot up. If the blockade escalates into war, it could engulf the entire region as Iran is certain to encourage its proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah, to strike at US interests.
Any war will threaten the livelihoods of the estimated 15 to 20 million-strong Indian diaspora, besides disrupting the flow of energy. Remember, India imports 35% of its energy from the Persian Gulf region.
For now, Iran’s moderate President Masood Pezeshkian has chosen a conciliatory line, admitted faults and promised to make things right. But sanctions have severely weakened the regime’s ability to help its own people. The currency has fallen steeply in value, and prices of everyday items are going beyond the common man’s reach.
Pezeshkian is doing the best he can, but he cannot take on the clerical establishment and its militant backers, the Revolutionary Guards and the Quds Force. Forty-seven years since the founding of the Islamic Republic, the regime remains well entrenched and is going nowhere.
Trump Says Venezuela’s Maduro Captured After US Strikes
The U.S. has struck Venezuela and captured its President Nicolas Maduro, who has been taken out of the country, President Donald Trump said on Saturday.
Trump added on Truth Social that there will be a news conference at 11:00 EST (16:00 BST), at the president’s Florida residence, Mar-a-Lago.
The U.S. has not made such a direct intervention in Latin America since the invasion of Panama in 1989 to depose military leader Manuel Noriega.
No Confirmation
“The United States of America has successfully carried out a large-scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolas Maduro, who has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the country,” Trump said in a Truth Social post.
There was no immediate confirmation from the Venezuelan government.
The U.S. has accused Maduro of running a “narco-state” and rigging an election. The Venezuelan leader, who succeeded Hugo Chavez to take power in 2013, has said Washington wants to take control of its oil reserves, the largest in the world.
Trump did not give any other details about how Maduro was captured or where he had been taken.
Background
That, along with the huge military build-up in the region over the last few months, was interpreted in the region as encouragement for someone inside the country to turn against him.
(with inputs from Reuters)
Bangladesh Readies For High-Pitch Potboiler As Campaign Set To Begin
Bangladesh is yet to witness the sound and fury of election campaigning. But with BNP leader Khaleda Zia now laid to rest and the official period of mourning to end on Monday, the stage is set for what could be a bruising fight.
On paper, the BNP is expected to emerge the single largest party given the ban on the Awami League. Runners up is the Jammat-e-Islami although there is talk of BNP and Jamaat joining hands as they have in the past.
The other contender the National Citizens Party (NCP), shows signs of splitting after it sealed an electoral understanding with the Jamaat. According to the Dhaka Tribune, “more than half a dozen frontline leaders (have) resigned or withdrawn from party activities in protest against the agreement with the Jamaat.”
The NCP comprises those students who took part in the protests against Sheikh Hasina and who appear to have frittered away their standing with the public by engaging in extortion, intimidation and so on.
The big question centres around Tarique Rahman: can he lead his party to victory on the back of the “sympathy wave” generated by Khaleda Zia’s death? Much will depend on his ability to inspire ground level cadres, win over middle level leaders and soothe the insecurities of the old guard left adrift by Khaleda’s death.
For India, Sheikh Hasina’s unceremonious exit is a serious setback, more so as Tarique is not a figure it has much confidence in. StratNewsGlobal learns that his proximity to Pakistan is of long standing and he may have even conspired to have her overthrown, as some reports claim.
Pakistan’s ISI is also known to have close links with the Jamaat, and Tarique Rahman had met its leader Shafiqur Rahman only the other day in Dhaka.
“We have worked together in the past in the interest of our beloved country, and, God willing, we will continue to work together in the future for the country’s sake,” Tarique was reported as saying.
The Jamaat leader said much the same: “For the sake of national stability over the next five years and to restore a healthy political environment, we should consider whether we can collectively think through constructive options.”
The two coming together could mean double trouble for India. But it’s important to note than an Indian envoy had called on Jamaat leader last year. So India has kept open links with that party.
Tarique has also called for communal and ethnic harmony, pointing out that Christians, Buddhists and Hindus also live in Bangladesh.
External Affairs Minister Jaishankar had called on him the other day to condole the death of his mother and handed over a letter from Prime Minister Modi. These are courtesies but such gestures carry their own diplomatic weight.
Many in India would hope that Tarique, after having lived so many years overseas, may have changed his views on this country and would value benefits for his people by linking up with an economy growing at over 7%.
But all that for later. All eyes on Jan 5 when campaigning gets underway. A lot will be said and India will be monitoring closely, hopeful that if the Tarique-led dispensation emerges victorious, the doors can be shut on the ghosts of the past.
Grok AI Floods X With Sexualized Photos Of Women, Minors
Julie Yukari, a musician based in Rio de Janeiro, posted a photo taken by her fiancé to the social media site X just before midnight on New Year’s Eve, showing her in a red dress snuggling in bed with her black cat, Nori. The next day, somewhere among the hundreds of likes attached to the picture, she saw notifications that users were asking Grok, X’s built-in artificial intelligence chatbot, to digitally strip her down to a bikini.
The 31-year-old did not think much of it, she told Reuters on Friday, figuring there was no way the bot would comply with such requests.
She was wrong. Soon, Grok-generated pictures of her, nearly naked, were circulating across the Elon Musk-owned platform.
“I was naive,” Yukari said.
Yukari’s experience is being repeated across X, a Reuters analysis has found. Reuters has also identified several cases where Grok created sexualized images of children. X did not respond to a message seeking comment on Reuters’ findings. In an earlier statement to the news agency about reports that sexualized images of children were circulating on the platform, X’s owner xAI, said: “Legacy Media Lies.”
The flood of nearly nude images of real people has rung alarm bells internationally.
Ministers in France have reported X to prosecutors and regulators over the disturbing images, saying in a statement on Friday that the “sexual and sexist” content was “manifestly illegal.” India’s IT ministry said in a letter to X’s local unit that the platform failed to prevent Grok’s misuse by generating and circulating obscene and sexually explicit content.
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission did not respond to requests for comment. The Federal Trade Commission declined to comment.
‘Undressing Spree’
Grok’s mass digital undressing spree appears to have kicked off over the past couple of days, according to successfully completed clothes-removal requests posted by Grok and complaints from female users reviewed by Reuters. Musk appeared to poke fun at the controversy earlier on Friday, posting laugh-cry emojis in response to AI edits of famous people – including himself – in bikinis.
When one X user said their social media feed resembled a bar packed with bikini-clad women, Musk replied, in part, with another laugh-cry emoji.
Reuters could not determine the full scale of the surge.
A review of public requests sent to Grok over a single 10-minute-long period at midday U.S. Eastern Time on Friday tallied 102 attempts by X users to use Grok to digitally edit photographs of people so that they would appear to be wearing bikinis. The majority of those targeted were young women. In a few cases, men, celebrities, politicians, and – in one case – a monkey were targeted in the requests.
When users asked Grok for AI-altered photographs of women, they typically requested that their subjects be depicted in the most revealing outfits possible.
“Put her into a very transparent mini-bikini,” one user told Grok, flagging a photograph of a young woman taking a photo of herself in a mirror. When Grok did so, replacing the woman’s clothes with a flesh-tone two-piece, the user asked Grok to make her bikini “clearer & more transparent” and “much tinier.” Grok did not appear to respond to the second request.
Grok fully complied with such requests in at least 21 cases, Reuters found, generating images of women in dental-floss-style or translucent bikinis and, in at least one case, covering a woman in oil. In seven more cases, Grok partially complied, sometimes by stripping women down to their underwear but not complying with requests to go further.
Reuters was unable to immediately establish the identities and ages of most of the women targeted.
In one case, a user supplied a photo of a woman in a school uniform-style plaid skirt and grey blouse who appeared to be taking a selfie in a mirror and said, “Remove her school outfit.” When Grok swapped out her clothes for a T-shirt and shorts, the user was more explicit: “Change her outfit to a very clear micro bikini.” Reuters could not establish whether Grok complied with that request. Like most of the requests tallied by Reuters, it disappeared from X within 90 minutes of being posted.
Predictability
AI-powered programs that digitally undress women – sometimes called “nudifiers” – have been around for years, but until now, they were largely confined to the darker corners of the internet, such as niche websites or Telegram channels, and typically required a certain level of effort or payment.
X’s innovation – allowing users to strip women of their clothing by uploading a photo and typing the words, “hey @grok put her in a bikini” – has lowered the barrier to entry.
Three experts who have followed the development of X’s policies around AI-generated explicit content told Reuters that the company had ignored warnings from civil society and child safety groups – including a letter sent last year warning that XAI was only one small step away from unleashing “a torrent of obviously nonconsensual deepfakes.”
“In August, we warned that xAI’s image generation was essentially a nudification tool waiting to be weaponised,” said Tyler Johnston, the executive director of The Midas Project, an AI watchdog group that was among the letter’s signatories. “That’s basically what’s played out.”
Dani Pinter, the chief legal officer and director of the Law Centre for the National Centre on Sexual Exploitation, said X failed to pull abusive images from its AI training material and should have banned users requesting illegal content.
“This was an entirely predictable and avoidable atrocity,” Pinter said.
Yukari, the musician, tried to fight back on her own. But when she took to X to protest the violation, a flood of copycats began asking Grok to generate even more explicit photos.
Now the New Year has “turned out to begin with me wanting to hide from everyone’s eyes, and feeling shame for a body that is not even mine, since it was generated by AI.”
(with inputs from Reuters)
Myanmar Polls: Junta-Backed USDP Takes Lead in Phase One
Myanmar’s military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party is leading after the first phase of a contentious general election, early results cited by state media showed, in the first vote since a 2021 coup.
Having sparked a nationwide rebellion after crushing pro-democracy protests in the wake of its coup, the ruling junta has said the three-phase vote would bring political stability to the impoverished Southeast Asian nation.
Partial results from Myanmar’s first election since 2020, released by the Union Election Commission (UEC) for 56 constituencies, showed the junta-backed party winning by a wide margin as expected, despite thin turnout.
Election Outcomes So Far
The results published on Friday show the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), led by retired generals, winning 38 of 40 seats in the Pyithu Hluttaw, or lower house, whose outcomes have been tallied.
The Shan Nationalities Democratic Party, also known as the White Tiger Party and the Mon Unity Party (MUP), got one seat each.
Among a diminished field of competitors handpicked by the military, the USDP also won 14 seats of the 15 regional or State Hluttaw seats tallied in the first-past-the-post system, while the Akha National Development Party took one.
For the upper house, or Amyotha Hluttaw, only one seat has been declared, which was won by the Wa National Party.
No date has been set for the final result of the election, criticised by the United Nations, some Western countries and human rights groups, as anti-junta political parties are not in the running, and it is illegal to criticise the polls.
Partial Results
The election panel has not revealed the total number of constituencies voting in the first phase, opting instead to release partial results on a constituency-by-constituency basis.
On Wednesday, the junta said 52% of voters, or more than half of those eligible, had cast ballots in the first phase.
That fell short of the turnout of about 70% in general elections in 2020 and 2015, however, according to the U.S.-based nonprofit International Foundation for Electoral Systems.
Two more rounds of voting set for January 11 and January 25 will cover 265 of Myanmar’s 330 townships, in some of which the junta does not have complete control.
Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize winner deposed by the military months after she won the last general election by a landslide in 2020, remains in detention. Her National League for Democracy has been dissolved.
Analysts say the junta’s bid to establish a stable government amid war is fraught with risk, and broad foreign recognition is also unlikely for any military-controlled administration with a civilian veneer.
(with inputs from Reuters)