Vital Signs Spring 2023

VITAL SIGNS

Spring Issue

Trouble in Pakistan, Protests in France, Turmoil in Peru, The State of Jounalism in Russia, Russia’s Mercenary Army, and Much More

Midterms Short Film

VITAL SIGNS

Pakistan on Edge

By William Young

Pakistan is currently on the brink. A major non-Nato ally and nuclear-armed state, Pakistan faces a wide array of economic, political, and even environmental challenges that pose a significant threat to its stability. While the Pakistani economy has been in meltdown for much of 2022, the situation continued to deteriorate throughout the first half of 2023. In January, the Pakistani rupee dropped 20% of its value against the American dollar; in February Pakistani officials predicted that inflation could potentially average 33%. Interest rates were increased to 26%, and Pakistan’s credit rating has plummeted, severely impairing its ability to take out much-needed loans. The destructive monsoons of the summer of 2022 did not help either. This economic turbulence has severe human consequences; the Consumer Price Index (a measure of the cost of living in a country) has exploded, while in April, the IMF projected that four million people would fall below the lower middle poverty line ($3.6 a day).

Associate Editors

Sasha Bauhs

Brian Chin

Nick Henry

Kate Marine

Copy Editors:

Charlie Ackermann

Alexis Bartoli

Jeremy Betz

Olivia Buvanova

Isabel Caldis

Aviv Cohen

Ethan Liu

Max Naseef

Aanya Shah

Faculty Advisor: Mr. Matt Honohan

All the while, this economic turbulence has been accompanied by increasingly tense and violent political conflict, coming to a head with the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan. On May 9, 2023, Khan was arrested under corruption charges for allegedly receiving a land bribe worth millions of dollars from Malik Riaz Hussein, a powerful businessman. Due to his poor relationship with the Pakistan Army, it is widely suspected that Khan’s arrest was directed by them. Quickly, tens of thousands of people took to the streets to protest, some going so far as to breach the Army Headquarters. Several thousand people have been arrested, 8 have been killed, and the Army has been deployed by the government to suppress the rioting. This is of course worrying in itself, but it is also important to understand the major players and their potential implications for the future of global affairs.

Imran Khan is the former Prime Minister of Pakistan and one of the main players in the current crisis. Imran Khan grew up in a privileged upper-middle-class environment and received a world-class education. After attending university in the United Kingdom, Khan became a professional cricket player and was quickly recognized for his talent, thanks in no part to Khan leading Pakistan to victory in the 1992 Cricket World Cup. Needless to say, in Pakistan, Khan was very popular. In retirement, Khan became increasingly interested in philanthropy and politics. In the 1990s, Khan promoted vaccination programs in foreign countries and would go on to found universities

in Pakistan, as well as its first cancer hospital. In 1996, Khan formally entered the world of electoral politics by creating his populist centrist party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and was elected to Parliament in 2002. From 2002 onward, Khan has maintained a consistent political philosophy. On the domestic front, Khan is a populist and a nationalist. During his tenure as PM, Khan enacted increased taxes and worked to reform and expand the social welfare system. Meanwhile, Khan attempted (to limited success and public approval) to enact sweeping anti-corruption legislation. While the military largely directs Pakistan’s foreign policy, this has not stopped Khan from having his own, somewhat bizarre vision and direction for Pakistan. Khan is in favor of a peaceful solution to the humanitarian crisis in Kashmir and is against armed conflict with India, but pursues close relations with China, a country that has prepared for war against India for decades. Meanwhile, Khan also pursued warm relations with Russia. Russia is India’s primary supplier of military equipment, much of which is meant to be used against Pakistan at a moment’s notice. However, the keystone of Khan’s foreign policy is his anti-American sentiment. Khan is a major opponent of the War on Terror, appealing to the popular narrative within Pakistan that the United States’ involvement in the region is a threat to the safety of Pakistan. Khan especially capitalized on this after he was ousted by a vote of no confidence, where he maintained that he was removed because of a US plot to keep Pakistan within its sphere of influence. Finally, it is imperative to discuss the troubled relations Khan has with the Pakistan Army, a major force in Pakistan politics. While he did use the backing of the military to become Prime Minister in 2018, relations between Khan and the Army have become increasingly strained. During his premiership, Khan attempted to decrease the military’s budget. He has been one of the rare Pakistani government officials to repeatedly point out that the Army often acts in violation of the laws. He also accused Army Chief Asim Munir of having a key role in his ousting from the PM’s office. Finally, Khan irreparably destroyed any good standing he had with the Army when he accused it of being behind his November 2022 assassination attempt. After his arrest, he would again accuse the Army of being the culprit behind his persecution, claiming that democracy is in the balance. This message is also very popular; many Pakistanis resent the immense power that the military has over Pakistani politics. This populist message appeals to wide swaths of people; Khan has popular, and importantly, fervent support from everyone from young educated urbanites to illiterate and

impoverished farmers. He also has a large and powerful support base within the government, including from the Supreme Court. Because of this support, it should come as no surprise that after Khan was ousted by a vote of no confidence, there was public outrage, and after he was arrested for corruption earlier this May, PTI supporters rioted and stormed government buildings.

Opposing Khan, there is the Pakistan Army and current PM Shehbaz Sharif. The Pakistan Armed Forces (primarily the Army, as they will be referred to throughout), is a major player in Pakistani politics and has been for decades. Since independence, the Pakistan Army has assumed total control over government functions (e.g. establishing a junta) three separate times. Its major purpose within the politics of Pakistan is to maintain the status quo and prevent any radical policy shifts. The military itself is also a formidable fighting force. Despite Pakistan being a middle-income country (41st largest economy by nominal GDP), it maintains the sixth largest military on earth and a sizable nuclear stockpile. Regardless of whether it is running the government or not, the Pakistan Army has significant influence over the direction of the Pakistani government. Outside of internal politics, like Imran Khan, the military does have its own set of contradictory foreign policy goals. Under previous administrations, the Pakistan Army’s support for the War on Terror earned Pakistan the distinction of Major Non-NATO Ally from the United States, a designation shared by Israel and Japan. However, the Pakistan Armed Forces are more than happy to purchase advanced Chinese military equipment, and in the case of the JF-17 Thunder fighter jet and VT-4 tank, manufacture it

under license. Supported by the Army is the current Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif. Sharif, 70, is a veteran of Pakistani politics. Within Pakistan, he is generally regarded as a shrewd and effective politician. When Khan faced a vote of no confidence in Parliament in April 2022, Shehbaz was the leader of that charge. Like Khan, Shehbaz paints himself as a reformer. But unlike Khan’s attacks on the elites and military, Shehbaz advocates for cleaning up the dysfunction of Khan. This means patching up the economy and using law-and-order rhetoric. However, like the Army itself, Shehbaz’s main goal is to maintain the status quo. For Shehbaz, this means repairing Pakistan’s relations with the “friendly countries” is a top item. Given Khan’s rhetoric, this likely means that repairing relations with the United States is a top priority. As Shehbaz is part of a wealthy family of industrialists and real estate developers, this could also mean pursuing closer ties with China to help build infrastructure. Finally, on the law and order front, suppressing the ongoing riots from PTI supporters is of the utmost importance. As of 5/15/23, the Army has been deployed to help keep riots under control. There are several potential outcomes to the current situation in Pakistan, some of which could see major shifts in Pakistan’s place in global affairs. The upcoming election for Prime Minister in October, where Shehbaz and Khan will likely be the main contestants, will prove to be a pivotal experience for Pakistan. If Shehbaz wins, Pakistan will realign its foreign policy. Under Shehbaz, Pakistan will continue to maintain balanced relations with the world powers. Pakistan will likely not end its close relationship with China under Shehbaz, however, he will try to warm relations with the

United States that became antagonistic under Khan. However, Shehbaz will continue to face both challenges from the widely popular Khan and PTI, as well as pressure from the failing economy. Ultimately, if Shehbaz remains in power, he will work to maintain a domestic and foreign status quo approved by the military. If Khan is elected Prime Minister, which is the most likely scenario given his party’s popularity, he will likely stick to a more radical version of his policy. Disillusioned with the military, Khan will likely work to control the military if elected, which means reforming it to be under civilian control. This would add a layer of accountability that the Army was previously not subject to. Additionally, Khan will likely be more antagonistic toward the United States. The Pakistan Armed Forces generally wish to keep cordial ties with the US. As Khan believes that the military was behind his ousting, assassination attempt, and arrest, he could draw a connection to the United States. This would in turn further fuel his popular support. He will also steer Pakistan closer to China and Russia while warming relations with India. Khan is also notoriously lax on the Taliban within Pakistan. While this would alienate the United States, tolerating the Taliban in the border regions could prove to be a major destabilizing factor. Finally, there is the military. The military itself is an extra and highly unpredictable variable in this scenario. The military may conduct a coup to retain the status quo, either under the cover of restoring law and order or to overthrow an antagonistic Khan given he is elected this October. Similar to Shehbaz, the military would work to maintain the status quo. This would mean similar foreign policy goals to Shehbaz, but a more extreme domestic policy. If the mili-

Imran Khan, Former Prime Minister of Pakistan

Shehbaz Sharif, Current Prime Minister of Pakistan

SPRING 2023

2023

tary were to take power, they would likely crack down on Khan and the PTI to cripple it as a political force. The military would also work to undo the progress made in Indian-Pakistan relations. A military coup could also prove to be a worst-case scenario for Pakistan. If the military were to take power, it would risk becoming a pariah state and having its government seen illegitimate by most of the international community. If this were to happen, there is a risk that Pakistan would be forced into the hands of China, and lose its value as a strategic US ally. Shehbaz is likely Pakistan’s clearest path to long-term stability. Shehbaz is safe: more moderate and less divisive than Khan. Shehbaz’s warm relations with the military are also important. No matter how much Khan may rail against and advocate for civilian control of the military, it still holds a significant stake in Pakistani politics. Shehbaz could be the very thing Pakistan needs to avoid falling into a military junta. Finally, Shehbaz would realign Pakistan’s foreign policy. As stated earlier, he would work to repair relations with the United States and reaffirm its position as an ally, all while maintaining a cooperative and productive relationship with China. In short, continue to play up to both sides. Even so, this is only a prediction of what might happen. Any way you put it, Pakistan will still face an uncertain future.

Works Cited

Al Jazeera. 14 May 2023. Al Jazeera, www. aljazeera.com/news/2023/5/14/ex-pm-imrankhan-calls-for-freedom-protests-across-pakistan. Accessed 16 May 2023.

Baloch, Shah Meer, and Hannah Ellis-Perterson. “Imran Khan Accuses Pakistan’s Military of Ordering His Arrest.” The Guardian, 14 May 2023. The Guardian, www.theguardian.com/ world/2023/may/14/imran-khan-arrest-pakistan-military. Accessed 16 May 2023.

Baloch, Shah Meer, and Hannah Ellis-Petersen. “Pakistan Supreme Court Rules Arrest of Imran Khan Was Illegal.” The Guardian, 11 May 2023, www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/11/ pakistan-army-deployed-across-country-as-unrest-triggered-by-imran-khan-arrest-continues.

Accessed 20 May 2023.

Bokhari, Farhan, and John Reed. “Imran Khan, the Pakistani Politician Taking on the Army.” Financial Times, 12 May 2023. Financial Times, www.ft.com/content/4a094cf1-e16c-49ec-bbe0079a308f2561. Accessed 20 May 2023.

Butt, Riazat. “In Pakistan Clashes, Khan Showed He Commands Huge Crowds. What’s Driving Them?” Associated Press, 12 May 2023, apnews.com/article/pakistan-imran-khan-supporters-2691f93520bc96e370f1b867fb069ae9.

Accessed 18 May 2023.

Chughtai, Alia. “Who Is Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan’s New Prime Minister?” Al Jazeera, 9 Apr. 2022. Al Jazeera, www.aljazeera.com/

France in a Frenzy

By Alex Wong

Liberté,Egalité,Fraternité.These are the three values upon which French society is constructed. The values of the French Revolution continue to reverberate through the republic. However, these sacred values are coming under fire from the very top of French society. On March 16, President Emmanuel Macron enacted Article 49-3 (equivalent to an Executive Order) of the French Constitution to ram his pension reform plan through the National Assembly. His decision has sparked widespread protests nationally, with citizens taking to the streets in the biggest protests since the 2019 Yellow Jacket Revolution. While the Macron government argues that raising the pension age has been a long time coming, many citizens feel that their decision is a clear abuse of dictatorial powers. Despite the cries of the French people, and even calls for the formation of a Sixth French Republic, Macron is showing no signs of reneging on his pension plan.

Since France is a social democracy, pensions are one of many social benefits that French citizens enjoy as a result of their high taxes. Each French citizen is required to pay 1200 Euros ($1327) into the pension system. In return, French citizens are entitled to collect 50% of their annual income from the government when they retire (with deductions depending on how many quarters are missed) (OECD). Many French citizens take great pride in their social welfare state, as its benefits far surpass those of any neighboring country. Its pension system is ranked 7th in all of Europe (7th highest pension paid per month to the

cost of living), while countries like the Netherlands and UK rank 14th and 16th, respectively (Breakeven). Accordingly, the price of the pension and welfare systems is high. The French government allocates nearly 15% of its $3 trillion GDP towards its pension system. However, the Macron government has long argued that an increasing life expectancy and decreasing birth rates have made France’s welfare state unsustainable. Macron’s plan to remedy the situation is to increase the retirement age from 62 to 64 (below the European average of 65 years). By increasing the retirement age, the French government will receive much-needed tax dollars and prevent billions of Euros from unnecessarily inflating the deficit.

Macron’s plan has been widely controversial from the start. The centrist Macron swept into office on a wave of right-wing skepticism for populist opposition candidate Marine Le Pen. Due to his past as a former investment banker, many of Macron’s past policies have been deemed too harsh on the middle class and too light on the rich. As such, many French citizens have long considered Macron to be an elitist. This new pension policy is no different. It is widely believed that instead of covering the deficit by raising taxes on France’s one percent, Macron is unfairly punishing the working class. After all, working two extra years in a factory is much more taxing than working two extra years in an office. Macron had already tried to pass his pension reform plan in 2019, which resulted in the chaotic 2019 Yellow Jacket Revolution. The Yellow Jacket Revolution saw massive protests and nationwide strikes, grinding the entire nation of France to a halt.

SPRING 2023

Macron’s 2019 austerity campaign was stifled by the need to combat the COVID-19 Pandemic, and his plans were shelved. However, after winning a second term as president, Macron thought that a new mandate from the people would allow him to pass pension reform. He was gravely mistaken. Almost immediately after he announced his plans, protests erupted across the nation. The French people refused to show up to work, labor unions called strikes, and images of garbage piling up around the streets of Paris began to appear on news channels worldwide. However, the worst was yet to come. Macron, who did not command a majority in the National Assembly after the 2022 Elections, completely bypassed the parliamentary process by invoking Article 49-3. This blatant abuse of power in the face of massive protests further inflamed tensions across the country. It became evident that Macron no longer cared about the French people, instead acting for his own personal interests. As the streets of Paris, Leon, Bordeaux, and numerous other cities across the nation burned, Macron’s approval ratings tanked, and a vote of no confidence was called against Macron. Despite surviving the vote of no confidence and scheduling talks with union leaders, it has become clear that Macron has no respect for the democratic values of the French Republic or the cries of the French people. He is willing to see his nation burn to realize his vision of the republic. Much like how Napoleon trampled the ideals of the French Revolution by becoming Emperor of the French, Macron has completely neglected the core values of the French Republic, choosing instead to go his dictatorial route. Macron has pressed his advantage since ramming his pension reform through the National Assembly and down the throats of the French people. Macron’s government has proposed a mandatory portrait law, which, if passed, would require a picture of the French President to hang in every town hall, much like the local councils of dictatorships like China and North Korea (Chrisafis). Macron has also been distancing himself from American influence, proudly writing that “Europe needs more factories and fewer dependencies’’ (Macron). Despite his opposition to America and “foreign influence,” he has increasingly warmed up to China. Visiting Beijing shortly after passing his pension reform, Macron argued that Europe should be dissuaded from being drawn into a conflict over Taiwan and instead focus on the island’s “strategic autonomy.” He has also supported China’s efforts to be a mediator in the Russian-Ukrainian War, raising alarm bells in the West (Jett). Macron continues to be impervious and out of touch with the concerns of the French people, wearing an 80,000 euro luxury watch during an interview in the Elysee Palace as Paris burned around him (before discreetly removing it halfway through the interview).

As France continues down the path of autocracy and authoritarianism, and as the will of the French people continues to be ignored, the Fifth French Republic is quickly disintegrating. The story of France and its current situation should serve as a warning to other first-world countries. After all, if France, the home of Enlightenment values like liberty, justice, and universal human rights, can descend into autocracy, what is stopping the rest of the world?

Works Cited

Anderlini, Jamil. “Europe must resist pressure to become ‘America’s followers,’ says Macron.” Politico, 9 Apr. 2023, www.politico.eu/article/ emmanuel-macron-china-america-pressure-interview/. Accessed 16 May 2023. Chrisafis, Angelique. “Backlash over plan to force French town halls to display presidential portrait.” The Guardian, 11 May 2023, www. theguardian.com/world/2023/may/11/backlash-over-plan-to-force-french-town-halls-todisplay-presidential-portrait-emmanuel-macron. Accessed 16 May 2023.

---. “Macron finds elitist tag hard to shake, but he has the upper hand.” The Guardian, 15 Nov. 2017, www.theguardian.com/world/2017/ nov/15/macron-finds-elitist-tag-hard-to-shakebut-he-has-the-upper-hand. Accessed 16 May 2023.

Jett, Jennifer. “China celebrates Macron as U.S. and Europe fret over divisions.” NBC News, 19 Apr. 2023, www.nbcnews.com/news/world/china-celebrates-macron-us-europe-divisions-taiwan-rcna79486. Accessed 16 May 2023. Macron, Emmanuel. “Europe needs more factories and fewer dependencies.” Financial Times, www.ft.com/content/7ff1123d-51b1482c-ba86-b3a95a347df9. Accessed 16 May 2023.

Ray, Saptarshi. “How do retirees in France really fare?” Al Jazeera, 27 Apr. 2023, www. aljazeera.com/economy/2023/4/27/how-do-retirees-in-france-really-fare#:~:text=While%20 the%20relatively%20early%20age,and%20Luxembourg’s%203%2C300%20euros%20(%24. Accessed 16 May 2023.

Robinson, Samuel. “Pension breakeven index: How does the UK state pension compare to the rest of Europe?” Almond Financial, 26 Apr. 2023, www.almondfinancial.co.uk/pensionbreakeven-index-how-does-the-uk-state-pension-compare-to-the-rest-of-europe/. Accessed 16 May 2023.

Rosman, Rebecca. “Emmanuel Macron compared to a ‘cult leader’ over mandatory portrait law.” The Telegraph, 12 May 2023, www. telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/05/12/emmanuel-macron-compared-cult-leader-mandatory-portrait-law/. Accessed 16 May 2023.

French President Macron during a television interview

Sleep Medications Are More Harmful Than You Think

By Aanvi Trivedi

Sleep medication is said to be a vital tool for those with specific conditions such as insomnia. More commonly, it’s used by people who simply have trouble sleeping. In fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, 8.4% of adults use sleep medication to help them sleep as of 2020. Further studies have shown that number only increased after the start of COVID-19, especially in children. USA Today reports that at least 28% of teens ages 13-18 have used some form of sleep medication to aid them in sleeping. With new and improved sleep medications coming out rapidly, one can infer that the number will only increase yearly. To most people, these statistics might seem high yet inconsequential. However, the notes of caution from medical professionals around the world say otherwise. Most professionals agree that regularly taking sleep medication can be dangerous and, in many cases - deadly. These concerns were only multiped with new evidence of mislabeled sleep medications containing potentially hazardous quantities of CBD and melatonin. After being released on April 27th, 2023, this newfound research by JAMA has taken to widespread panic for both medical professionals and parents everywhere.

CBD and cannabinol (CBN) are part of a broad group of over 100 chemicals known as cannabinoids. The popular and addictive chemical known as THC is the most prevalent in this group, of which CBD and CBN are milder and less addictive versions. Although CBD and CBN can incur similar effects as THC, including muscle relaxation, they are not as addictive and psychedelic. In fact, in a regulated quantity, they have even been shown to help with sleep. However, those chemicals can prove extremely dangerous in an unregulated amount, such as the amounts found in sleep medication. About a year ago, a study conducted by Leafport demonstrated similar results to the one released by JAMA, and it is evident that the issue has only gotten worse. In fact, according to Forbes Magazine, in 2022, CBD and CBN were over 10% more potent in over half of the sleep medications tested by Leafreport. They also found that sleep medication products that were said to contain

two of the three chemicals (CBD, CBN, and melatonin) were reportedly less accurate than those that included all three or only one of the chemicals. Only 29% of the medication with two out of three chemicals matched the label, in contrast to 55.6% that matched the medications containing all three. The percentage of mislabeled drugs also varied by the medium in which consumers ingested the sleep medication. For example, only 30% of tinctures matched their labels, while 40% of sleep medication gummies matched. In the study presented by JAMA this year, scientists discovered that one sleep medication product had 300% more melatonin than stated on the label, and 88% of the tested sleep medication was proven not to match its label. This sudden increase in data presents a trend of more mislabeled sleep medication products - indicating that this is a critical issue that pharmaceutical companies need to address immediately.

The effect of these mislabeled sleep medication products proves to be a real topic of concern, especially when dealing with its impact on growing adolescents. The number of children taking melatonin increased following the start of Covid-19, similar to the rise in sleep medication for adults. In fact, according to the CDC, in 2022, there was a 530% increase in children taking sleep medication between 2012 and 2022. Accordingly, there was an increased number of calls to the United States Poison Control Centers for dangerously high melatonin indigestion among young people during the same period. Additionally, according to the research conducted by JAMA, these numbers correlated with 27,795 visits to emergency rooms, 4,097 hospitalizations, and even two deaths. Even with all of this information, the rise of sleep medication is such a novel issue that it is hard to predict how this mislabeling will impact adolescents in the future, or even how it is affecting them right now. However, what is known is that CBD, CBN, and similar chemicals are dangerous. The Food And Drug Administration even made it illegal to market CBD by adding it to food or as a dietary supplement. Even so, mass-market sleep medications still contain them, making them a potential threat because of their high dosage and mass appeal.

Many argue that people

with certain conditions require sleep medication to help them fall asleep. However, those who genuinely need medication due to a situation will have already had their primary care physician prescribe a specific, trusted medication. For those who do not have a particular medical condition, studies have shown that sleep medication has little to no effect on helping one fall asleep, especially in the case of adolescents. The American Academy of Sleep Medication urged parents not to give their healthy children sleep medication, as it does not positively affect them. Dr. Pieter Cohen, an associate professor of medicine at Cambridge Health, says, “The FDA does not test products to ensure that they are accurately labeled.” While Cohen’s statement does raise some red flags about FDA inaction, his warning is clear: the mislabeling of sleep medications will only compound the threat faced by young Americans.

Works Cited

Cohen, Pieter A., et al. “Quantity of Melatonin and CBD in Melatonin Gummies Sold in the US.” JAMA Network, 25 Apr. 2023, jamanetwork.com/ journals/jama/article-abstract/2804077. Accessed 11 May 2023.

Haller, Sonja. “Alarming number of teens are using sleep aids, doctors warn of potentially risky results.” USA Today, 31 Oct. 2018, www.usatoday. com/story/life/allthemoms/2018/10/31/alarmingnumber-teens-use-sleep-aids-potentially-riskyresults/1743884002/. Accessed 14 May 2023.

Herrington, A.J. “Study Shows Most CBD Sleep Aids Are Mislabeled.” Forbes, 27 Apr. 2022, www.forbes.com/sites/ajherrington/2022/04/27/ study-shows-most-cbd-sleep-aids-are-mislabeled/?sh=142e38b35ef6. Accessed 14 May 2023.

Kato, Brooke. “Sleep aid gummies contain way more melatonin, CBD than advertised: study.” New York Post, 25 Apr. 2023, nypost. com/2023/04/25/sleep-aid-gummies-containway-more-melatonin-cbd-than-advertisedstudy/. Accessed 11 May 2023.

LaMotte, Sandee. “Potentially dangerous doses of melatonin and CBD found in gummies sold for sleep.” CNN, 25 Apr. 2023, www.cnn. com/2023/04/25/health/melatonin-gummies-wellness/index.html. Accessed 12 May 2023.

Freedom of Speech? What’s That?

By Isabel Caldis

This month marks the 30th anniversary of World Press Freedom Day. Since the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed May 3rd World Press Freedom Day in 1993, substantial progress has been made toward more freedom of expression across the globe. Sadly, the case of Evan Gershkovich, a reporter who grew up in New Jersey, reminds the world that it cannot take Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states, “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers” (UN), as a given and needs to continue fighting to secure this rudimentary civil liberty.

Born on October 26, 1991, to two Soviet-born Jewish exiles, Evan Gershkovich was raised in Princeton, New Jersey. He graduated from Bowdoin College in 2014 and has been working for the Wall Street Journal since 2022, for which he covers Russia, Ukraine, and the former Soviet Union. Most recently, Mr. Gershkovich was covering the Russian mercenary group, Wagner Group, in Yekaterinburg, which is located in the Ural Mountains. These mountains also happen to be home to a number of Russian military factories.

The last time the WSJ heard from Gershkovich was on Wednesday, March 29th, shortly before 4 P.M., when he arrived at a steakhouse in Yekaterinburg. Hours later, the Journal was frantically trying to contact Moscow, as Mr. Gershkovich was not answering his phone, and they had gotten news of security agents taking a diner from the same Yekaterinburg steakhouse that Mr. Gershkovich was dining at. At 10:35 A.M. on Thursday, March 30th, Moscow time, Russia’s state news agency formally declared that Mr. Gershkovich had been detained by the Federal Security Bureau (the successor to the KGB) on accusations of espionage. According to the FSB, Mr. Gershkovich was, “acting on an assignment from the American side, was gathering information classified as a state secret about the activity of one of the enterprises of Russia’s military-industrial complex” (NPR). If found guilty, he faces up to twenty years in prison. The Wall Street Journal and the Biden administration vehemently deny these claims and demand Mr. Gershkovich’s immediate release.

There is, unfortunately, very little hope for his release, given that Russian espionage trials are conducted in secret and almost always end in a conviction. This is not to say

that there have not been any attempts to secure his freedom, as Mr. Gershkovich’s legal team offered bail of 50 million roubles ($614,000) or an alternative option of putting him under house arrest. The Russian court rejected these offers, as well as an appeal Mr. Gershkovich made against his pre-trial detention on April 18th. This was the first time he had been seen in public for weeks. Gershkovich’s detention, the Russian courts have ruled, is to last until May 29th.

Gershkovich’s detention has accelerated the rate at which Western news agencies are withdrawing their reporters from Russia. According to experts, Putin has most likely ordered his arrest to provoke anti-western hysteria, discourage free press in Russia, and keep the Russian citizens in the dark regarding what is truly happening in Ukraine, thereby making them more susceptible to anti-Ukraine propaganda. It is also likely that Putin wishes to use Mr. Gershkovich in a prisoner swap, reminiscent of the swap of Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer, for women’s basketball star Britney Griner last year. According to John J. Sullivan, who served as the U.S.-Moscow ambassador until last year, “The fact that Russia has charged him with espionage, rather than a common criminal offense, suggests the Kremlin will want a big prize in return for his release” (WSJ). It is currently unknown whom Mr. Gershkovich could be swapped for at this point in time. This is the first time Russia has brought a spy case against an overseas reporter since the Cold War. The last reporter to face such charges was Nicholas Daniloff in 1986. In that case, Moscow’s motive was obvious, as three days before Mr. Daniloff’s arrest, the US government detained a Soviet employee of the UN in an FBI sting. After three weeks of intense negotiations, Mr. Daniloff, who denied the espionage allegation, was exchanged for the Russian.

In pursuit of expressing the freedom of speech, Mr. Gershkovich gave up his freedom. He is a true hero of free speech, fearlessly holding his head up high though he knew the danger. He is a role model for anyone who values the truth, and all of us at Vital Signs respect his sacrifice to promote freedom of the press.

Works Cited

Cullison, Alan, and Warren P. Strobel. “Biden Calls on Russia to Release Journal Reporter.” The Wall Street Journal, 31 Mar. 2023, www.wsj.com/ articles/u-s-russia-rift-complicates-case-of-arrested-journal-reporter-585946be?mod=article_inline. Accessed 1 May 2023.

N/A. United Nations, www.un.org/en/about-us/ universal-declaration-of-human-rights. Accessed 1 May 2023.

NPR Staff. “The U.S. condemns Russia’s arrest of a Wall Street Journal reporter.” NPR, 30 Mar. 2023, www.npr.org/2023/03/30/1166984608/russia-detains-wall-street-journal-reporter-accuse-espionage. Accessed 1 May 2023.

Parkinson, Joe, and Drew Hinshaw. “Evan Gershkovich Loved Russia, the Country That Turned on Him.”

The Wall Street Journal, 31 Mar. 2023, www.wsj.com/ articles/wsj-reporter-evan-gershkovich-detained-russia-cd03b0f3. Accessed 30 Apr. 2023.

Pinon, Natasha. “Russia detains Wall Street Journal reporter, plans to hold him until late May.”

CNBC, 30 Mar. 2023, www.cnbc.com/2023/03/30/ wall-street-journal-reporter-evan-gershkovich-detained-russia.html. Accessed 1 May 2023.

Rosenberg, Steve, and Chloe Kim. “Evan Gershkovich: US journalist arrested in Russia appears in court.” British Broadcasting Channel, 18 Apr. 2023, www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65310529#. Accessed 1 May 2023.

Simmons, Ann M. “Russia Could Consider Swap for WSJ Reporter Evan Gershkovich After Trial Ends.”

The Wall Street Journal, 13 Apr. 2023, www.wsj.com/ articles/russia-could-consider-swap-for-evan-gershkovich-after-trial-ends-80d74783. Accessed 1 May 2023.

Evan Gershkovich (Yellow Jacket) being taken into custody

BBC NEWS

Modern Day Mercenaries

By Brian Chin

Modern private military companies, or PMCs, have been around since World War Two, and today these companies play a pivotal role in modern warfare. For instance, they were so heavily used in the Iraq war that they contributed to the largest fighting force after United States troops. Despite these large numbers, they face little government oversight or legal constraints, which have resulted in massacres like that of Nisour Square, where the United States-backed Blackwater Security Consulting private military company killed seventeen Iraqi civilians while injuring twenty. Despite the perpetrators initially being convicted of murder and manslaughter, they were eventually controversially pardoned by President Donald Trump six years after they were convicted.

Today, private military companies play a major role for the Russians in the Ukrainian war. The most prominent of these companies being used on the front is a PMC called the Wagner Group. This PMC first appeared in 2014 during the annexation of Crimea. Since then, it has been the group has been fighting alongside Russian-backed separatists in smaller clashes between Russian and Ukrainian forces. Beyond Ukraine, Wagner Group has also been fighting with pro-government forces in Syria, supported groups in Libya, and have been seen supporting pro-Russian efforts throughout Africa. However, mainly out of the public eye until the Russian-Ukraine war that started just last year. They played a key role in preparations for the Russian invasion and there are reports that have surfaced that four hundred Wagner Group soldiers were sent to Africa to kill President Zelensky in mid-January, just a few weeks before the war in Ukraine started. In addition to this, according to an interview done by The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), a captured Russian sailor told them that the “Wagner Group helped him ‘change his profile’”(Pravda) after he joined the Russian infantry after an unsuccessful attempt to save a Russian cruiser at sea. This shows that the Wagner Group is taking an active role in training Russian troops before being set out to the frontlines. Beyond their impact in the

backlines of the war, they also have had a strong impact on the frontlines. It has been speculated that the Wagner Group had a frontline combat role in the initial invasion of Ukraine. But that claim is yet to be confirmed. However, it is confirmed that they had a major role in the Battle of Bakhmut, where around one thousand Wagner combatants were killed in the actions, including a senior commander of the Wager Group, Aleksey Nagin. After his death, Nagin was touted as a “Hero of the Russian Federation.”(Bickerton et al.) Additionally, out of the one thousand deaths, nine hundred were recruited Russian convicts that were reportedly used as bait. These convicts were recruited by the Wager Group starting from the beginning of July of 2022 after they offered inmates one hundred thousand to two hundred thousand rubles and a government pardon if they served six months for the group. Additionally, if they were to die, they promised they would pay their families five million rubles or around sixty-four thousand United States dollars, a payment many prisoners could not refuse (Vasilyeva et al.). This manipulative recruitment process employed by Wagner Group further amplified their immorality towards their troops as many of these recruits were used as bait due to their poor training and lack of effective weapons.

Wager Group has had a history of immoral actions on the battlefield. For example, the Moura massacre in Mali, where over three hundred civilians were killed by both Mali Armed Forces and Wager Group forces. Additionally, in Ukraine, after they took control of Bucha, a city just North of Kyiv, they killed over four hundred civilians, including nine children. To make this worse, many of the Russian soldiers and members of the Wagner Group considered the actions normal, according to a report done by the German Federal Intelligence Service (Amann et al.). This sentiment of normality seen widely throughout the Russian and Wagner forces is a major cause for concern because it raises questions about their morality on the battlefield and whether or not the two groups are playing by the rules. From these conclusions made by the German Federal Intelligence Service, it seems as though both forces are breaking international war laws, and incidents like the Bucha massacre

are actively being investigated by groups like Amnesty International, the UN, and NATO for possible and very likely war crimes.

In conclusion, the Wagner private military corporation is a dangerous group operating under Russian influence that should be charged with war crimes and serious sanctions. However, it must be noted that the Russians are not the users of private military corporations, as groups like Blackwater are used by Western countries as well and they should also face heavy scrutiny for the war crimes they have committed, unlike their previous treatment by President Donald Trump.

Works Cited

Amann, Melanie, et al. “Possible Evidence of Russian Atrocities: German Intelligence Intercepts Radio Traffic Discussing the Murder of Civilians in Bucha.” Spiegel, 7 April 2022, https://www.spiegel.de/international/ germany/possible-evidence-of-russian-atrocities-german-intelligence-intercepts-radio-traffic-discussing-the-murder-of-civilians-in-bucha-a-0a191c96-634f-4d07-8c5c-c4a772315b0d. Accessed 14 May 2023.

Bickerton, James, et al. “Russian Wagner Commander Killed in Ukraine’s Donbas.” Newsweek, 30 September 2022, https://www. newsweek.com/russian-wagner-commander-killed-ukraines-donbas-1747968. Accessed 14 May 2023.

Pravda, Ukrayinska. “Security Service of Ukraine questioned Russian who tried to save ...” Yahoo, 29 June 2022, https://www.yahoo. com/news/security-ukraine-questioned-russian-tried-084237417.html. Accessed 14 May 2023.

“Ukraine: Russian Forces’ Trail of Death in Bucha.” Human Rights Watch, 21 April 2022, https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/04/21/ukrainerussian-forces-trail-death-bucha. Accessed 14 May 2023.

Vasilyeva, Nataliya, et al. “Russian prisoners offered £2,800 and freedom if they serve in Ukraine - and come back alive.” The Telegraph, 5 July 2022, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/worldnews/2022/07/05/russian-prisoners-offered2800-freedom-serve-ukraine-come/. Accessed 14 May 2023.

Journalism: The Most Dangerous Job in Russia

By Olivia Buvanova

Communism, fear, and censorship: the Soviet Union in a nutshell. For almost half a century, Soviet citizens were completely misled by the USSR’s infamous tactics of propaganda and control. Throughout history, the dissemination of information has played a crucial role in shaping societies and governments. In the case of the Soviet Union, the opposite happened. Government suppression of information was a reality of Soviet life, which kept its people in the dark about the harsh reality of their own country. Soviet media was forbidden from publishing stories about disasters, suicides, industrial accidents, or even bad weather: after all, the Soviet Union was a place of unquestionable good. This resulted in a skewed understanding of reality, as events and information were heavily censored, dissenting voices were silenced, and perspectives not endorsed by the government were suppressed.

However, began to change when, under the leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet Union introduced Glasnost, or “openness.” Glasnost began to remove the strict confines of censorship which only recently had been in full force. It opened the doors to free speech, information, and a growing acceptance of Westernization. However, Glasnost did more than relieve censorship: it exposed the true corruptness of the USSR, and the terror and brutality that became ever more clear only stimulated the anti-communism movement. In just five short years, Glasnost shattered the three fundamental pillars on which the Soviet Union was built: propaganda, terror, and cen-

sorship, effectively breaking the Soviet Union.

The new Russian Federation headed by President Boris Yeltsin provided a glimmer of hope for freedom and democracy. However, Russia would never realize this dream. The 1990s sent Russia into economic and social collapse. Corruption was rampant in both government and industry, and territories like Chechnya and Dagestan attempted to break away from the Federation in bloody wars. None of this was helped by an inept Yeltsin Administration. This prospect of a brighter future was finally shattered when Vladimir Putin became president in 2000. Putin quickly created a regime under which his opponents are murdered, political prisoners are sent to Siberian prison camps for decades, minorities are suppressed, foreign territory is forcefully annexed, and Syria’s bloodthirsty president, Bashar Assad, enjoys direct military support for his massacres. Regrettably, Putin has erased much of the progress made by Glasnost era reforms regarding the dissemination of information. While the state of free speech in Russia has never been ideal, Glasnost era reforms and the Yeltsin era provided at least some safety for journalists and non-government perspectives. This all began to be eroded under Putin. This erosion came to a head during the invasion of Ukraine, which began in February of 2022 and marked a vital turning point, triggering a sudden surge in state-sponsored propaganda and censorship. Starting in 2022, Russian authorities have threatened to fine or block ten Russian independent media outlets if they did not delete publications about the war in Ukraine, according to Human Rights Watch.

On February 26, 2022, Roskomnadzor, the state

media and communications regulator, accused the 10 outlets of publishing “false information” about the war. The alleged false information included documentation that the Russian military is shelling Ukrainian cities and causing civilian casualties and references to the armed conflict as “an attack,” “invasion,” or “declaration of war.” The Russian authorities appear to require outlets to refer to the war only as a “special operation in connection with the situation in Lugansk People’s Republic and Donetsk People’s Republic.”

To further control what the Russian public knows about the invasion of Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin signed a law that imposes stiff sentences on journalists who air “false information.” Since the invasion, more than 11,800 news items, posts, and other online materials containing “reports of massive losses of [Russian] armed forces in manpower and equipment, mass surrender, as well as attacks on civilian facilities, infrastructure, and the killing of civilians” have been removed from Russia’s leading search engines (rferl.org). Russia’s control of information, however, extends much beyond strict censorship. A recent New York Times investigation, reporting on thousands of leaked Roskomnadzor documents, shows that Russia’s internet censor is also a surveillance machine. The New York Times’ new investigation reveals that Roskomnadzor has gone far beyond managing website blocklists and filing censorship orders, more than was publicly known. For a couple of years now, the internet censor has compiled dossiers on individuals and organizations posting regime-critical content. It has monitored websites, social media, and news outlets to label

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

SPRING 2023

2023

them “pro-government,” “anti-government,” or “apolitical.” Roskomnadzor, per the Times, has “worked to unmask and surveil people behind anti-government accounts and provided detailed information on critics’ online activities to security agencies.”

Roskomnadzor has gone far beyond managing website blocklists to make that happen. The Putin regime has evidently improved its technical censoring and filtering capabilities in the last year or so, as previously half-botched attempts to block or slow websites gave way since February 2022 to somewhat more successful blocks on Facebook, Instagram, the BBC, Bellingcat, and many other websites. But the internet censor’s switch to monitoring public online information, tracking people, and filing information to security agents and police reminds that targeted surveillance and physical coercion remain inextricably tied within Russia’s internet censorship regime (cfr.org).

As Russian leaders tighten the grip on censorship and obstruction of information, the further absence in glasnost is ever more felt throughout the nation. As the promising era of Gorbachev’s glasnost reverts back to rituals of censorship and violence, Russia regresses back to a Stalinized state of fear.

Works Cited

Belovodyev, Daniil, and Anton Bayev. “Inside the Obscure Russian Agency That Censors the Internet: An RFE/RL Investigation.” Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty, 9 Feb. 2023, www. rferl.org/a/russia-agency-internet-censorship/32262102.html. Accessed 14 May 2023. Kaminev, Denis. “Russia: With War, Censorship Reaches New Heights.” Human Rights Watch, 28 Feb. 2022, www.hrw.org/ news/2022/02/28/russia-war-censorship-reaches-new-heights. Accessed 14 May 2023.

Peru In Turmoil

By Joaquin Stevenson

eru faces many challenges, but the most fundamental is its geography. Beautiful mountain ranges, the lush Amazon rainforest, and the arid coast are a stark contrast from one another. Education, healthcare, and other basic needs are poor or lacking in many areas of Peru due to the often impassable nature of this geography. There is also a diverse set of languages spoken in Peru. About 20% of the population speaks Quechua or Aymara as their first language. These two languages, along with Spanish, are all official languages. Many other languages are spoken in native communities that inhabit the Amazon rainforest. To put things into perspective, Peru is about 2.3 times the size of France. The largest of the 24 regions, Loreto, is in the Amazon rainforest, and it is larger than Germany. Customs, traditions, languages, clothing, and foods vary widely across Peru. In its 201 years as an independent nation, immigrants from across the globe have made Peru their home. If anyone were to think of a melting pot, Peru is truly one, where everyone coming out of it is a Peruvian, nothing more and nothing less.

Life in the major cities of Peru is a stark contrast to the rural areas. Movements arising out of the cities have aimed to create a more egalitarian Peru throughout its history. The 1960s saw a rise in communism across Latin America - and Peru was no exception. The “Agrarian Reform” of 1969 was a failed attempt at achieving equity. Expropriating lands from wealthy landowners and

handing these over to those that worked the land -“campesino, el patrón no comerá más de tu pobreza”- proved to be a disaster. Working the land was one thing, but managing was something the “campesinos” were not experienced with.

The Communist Party of Peru had gained some more momentum in the 1970s. A professor from one of the most impoverished regions in Peru decided to break away and form his party. Abimael Guzman (a.k.a “Comrade Gonzalo”) would take Leninism, Marxism, and Maoism along with his ideology to convince people to join him in what became one of the most ruthless terrorist organizations of the time, “Shining Path.”

The Agrarian Reform of Gonzalo’s militant groups had left the countryside in bad shape, and Gonzalo found little to no opposition to spread his ideology. In the May 1980 elections, Shining Path began its attack on government and democracy by burning ballot boxes in the town of Chuschi. More than a decade later, Peruvians had grown accustomed to living in terror with car bombs, blackouts, road blockades, and exploding bridges, to name a few, all in the name of Gonzalo’s ideology. Violence and destruction were everywhere, and death abounded. The marginalized increasingly felt that while Gonzalo claimed to “help” them, they were the ones that suffered and lost the most.

However, Peru would never fully transition into a period of peace and democracy. In April of 1992, using a legal argument and the popular support of the Peruvian people, President Fujimori closed Congress and became the de-facto dictator. Many Peruvians along with the Armed Forces supported this move as drastic reforms were necessary to curb hyperinflation and deal with the ever-increasing terrorist activities. A new constitution was drafted, one that set Peru up for economic growth in a free market economy for the years to come. The Peruvian Intelligence Office and the Armed Forces fought to dismantle the terrorist organizations. Towards the late 1990s, Shining Path had been decimated and a few remnants of the terrorist organization were relegated to remote areas of the country. One such area was the Valley of the Apurímac, Ene, and Mantaro Rivers, or VRAEM.

The VRAEM is an area in the south-central Peruvian Andes with dense vegetation, extremely difficult terrain, and very little police presence. Much of the coca leaf produced in Peru comes from this area. The coca leaf grown in this area is purchased by other countries where it is turned into cocaine.

Russian law enforcement officers clash with protestors supporting jailed opposition Alexei Navalny in Moscow

NBC NEWS

Currently, Shining Path is now focused on this area, using its terrorist skills to support the drug trade. Shining Path also developed an organized political group called the MOVADEF (Movement for Amnesty and Fundamental Rights).

Presidential Turnovers

In the past 7 years, Peru has had 6 different presidents, and after each change, peaceful protests have ensued. In 2016, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski was elected president and in 2018 he was removed from office; his VP, Martin Vizcarra became president. On November 10, 2020, Vizcarra was impeached and declared “morally incompetent”. Then President of Congress, Manuel Merino, took the oath of office and became president. It became known that Merino had planned this impeachment by securing the support of the Armed Forces. Many peaceful protests against Merino sparked all over Peru and abroad. One peaceful protest in Lima turned violent when an armed group sought to take down a building. The group was immediately stopped, but several protesters and police were injured and 2 people died. Facebook pages with details on times and places of these protests sprung up, anyone who wanted their voice heard could do so at the location closest to them. In the New York area, the protest took place across the United Nations building on November 15, 2020, at 11 am. A few hours into the protest, word got out that Merino had resigned. The people’s voices had been heard.

Congress went back to the drawing board and Francisco Sagasti became president,

confirming that Presidential elections would take place in April 2021. A total of 24 parties presented presidential candidates in one of the most fragmented elections ever in Peru. The top two candidates would move on to the runoff election. Pedro Castillo of the far-left Free Peru party received 19% of the vote, while Keiko Fujimori of the conservative Popular Force received 13%. Castillo won the runoff election with 50.126% of the votes and became president.

However, the Free Peru party and Castillo himself were an immediate cause for concern. The leader of his political party had an open investigation for glorifying terrorism. Free Peru claimed to be supportive of Marxism and Leninism, sounding alarms about their links to Shining Path. As Castillo took office on July 28, 2021, his chosen cabinet had questionable characters. For example, Guido Bellido, the new Cabinet Head, was the very party leader subject to the terrorism investigation. By December 7, 2022, when Castillo violated the Constitution by conducting a coup against himself to make himself dictator, 60 people had rotated through all the cabinet positions. Several of these individuals were being investigated before their appointments to the cabinet, by the Prosecutor’s office for glorifying terrorism or corruption.

On December 7, 2022, Castillo was scheduled to be impeached for the third time; the prosecutor’s office had 6 open investigations on him. Among many other things, Castillo had been meeting in secret with vendors and key government officials at a house owned by a business acquaintance in Lima. Castillo, with the help of others, had been using his power

and influence to allocate big government projects for personal monetary gain. The Prosecutor’s office had more and more evidence of these illegal arrangements. Castillo reacted by attempting to close Congress and trying to rule by decree. Congress reacted with a successful impeachment. Following the constitutional order, Castillo was ousted from the presidency in a matter of hours.

The Current Political Situation

During his time in office, former President and almost dictator Castillo appealed to the masses and in the process sought to weaken Peru’s democratic institutions while spreading a divisive narrative. With his removal, people violently took to the streets, not seen before in Peru. One of the protests in Arequipa, the second largest city in Peru, started with the takeover of the airport, a move reminiscent of military actions and not of regular disgruntled Peruvians. That same protest moved immediately thereafter to the milk production plant of one of the most important companies in the country. The guardpost and a company car were burned, explosions were seen and looting took place. The violent nature of these protests and the rhetoric of those who led them were very reminiscent of Shining Path.

Blockades were being set up by the protestors on main highways, causing the produce to rot and exports to miss their shipment. Peru’s crown jewel, the citadel of Machu Picchu, was closed to tourism, representing millions of US dollars in losses for the southern central Andes. Just like with Shining Path, the poor and marginalized sectors of the

SPRING 2023

of the population were most affected. The protestors claimed dislike for President Dina Boluarte (Castillo’s former VP) and they wanted changes to the constitution. Those leading the protests were encouraging violence and continuing the divisive narrative, rekindling the population’s unsettlement. Many interviewed protestors have never read the Constitution nor know what “needs” to be changed. In a recent survey of the Peruvian population, when asked who is behind the violent protests, 34% of Peruvians believe it is Shining Path, 33% believe it is the illegal miners or drug traffickers and 27% believe it is Free Peru, Castillo’s political party. MOVADEF leadership in the protests has been identified. There are many ongoing investigations on the protests, their leaders, and the financing.

Mudslides and floods curbed these protests as the entire country had to pivot in late February and March to deal with saving people and properties. Despite the continuous investigations, what is clear is that the Executive and Legislative branches need to work together to find a solution that will provide political stability to the country.

Works Cited

AL Jazeera and News Agencies. “’I’m so tired of this’: Peru youth vow to remain on the streets.” Aljazeera, Al Jazeera Media Network, 14 Nov. 2020, www.aljazeera.com/ news/2020/11/14/im-so-tired-of-this-peruyouth-vow-to-remain-on-the-streets?traffic_ source=KeepReading.

Ampuero, Alexandra, et al. “Elecciones 2021: estos son los 24 partidos en carrera.” La Republica, Grupo La República, elecciones.larepublica.pe/elecciones-2021-estos-son-24-partidos-carrera/.

Aquino, Marco. “Dos muertos en protesta de Perú contra presidente Merino; Gobierno defiende cambio en el poder.” Infobae, 15 Nov. 2020, www.infobae.com/america/ agencias/2020/11/15/dos-muertos-en-protesta-de-peru-contra-presidente-merino-gobierno-defiende-cambio-en-el-poder/#:~:text=15%20de%20Noviembre%20de%20 2020%20Por%20Marco%20Aquino,cambio%20%22constitucional%22%20y%20 la%20destituci%C3%B3n%20de%20 Mart%C3%ADn%20Vizcarra.

“Arequipa: Manifestantes atacan planta de Gloria e incendian vehículos.” El Comerico, El Comercio, 12 Dec. 2022, elcomercio. pe/peru/arequipa-decenas-de-manifestantes-atacan-planta-de-gloria-e-incendian-vehiculos-video-protestas-crisis-en-peru-pnp-rmmn-noticia/#:~:text=Decenas%20de%20manifestantes%20tomaron%20 esta%20tarde%20la%20planta,Han%20 qu emado%20llantas%2C%20hay%20 explosiones.%20Hay%20saqueo%20tambi%C3%A9n.

Azaña, Fiorella. “Protestas en Perú: manifestantes toman aeropuerto de Arequipa.” La Republica, 12 Dec. 2022, larepublica.pe/sociedad/2022/12/12/protestas-en-peru-manifestantes-toman-aeropuerto-de-arequipa.

Bazo, Ana. “¿Qué diferencia al autogolpe de Fujimori de la disolución del Congreso que decretó Vizcarra? [Análisis].” RPP Noticias, Grupo RPP, 4 Oct. 2019, rpp.pe/politica/gobierno/analisis-que-diferencia-al-autogolpe-de-fujimori-con-la-disolucion-del-congreso-que-decreto-vizcarra-noticia-1222671.

BBC News Mundo. “Pedro Castillo: qué dice de su gobierno en Perú el polémico gabinete de ministros que ha elegido.” BBC, BBC News, 31 July 2021, www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-america-latina-58032212.

“Con Machu Picchu cerrado, el turismo en el Valle Sagrado va en ‘caída libre.’” Clarin, 30 Jan. 2023, www.clarin.com/viajes/machu-picchu-cerrado-turismo-valle-sagrado-va-caida-libre-_0_JbqmTo3kX5.html.

“Country Size Comparison.” My Life Elsewhere, www.mylifeelsewhere.com/country-size-comparison/peru/france.

“Dirigente del Movadef justifica muertes solo para conseguir nueva Constitución.” Peru 21, 3 Feb. 2023, peru21.pe/investigacion/ movadef-che-bernaola-justifica-muertes-solo-para-conseguir-nueva-constitucion-sendero-luminoso-noticia/.

Dunnell, Tony. “How Big is Peru?” New Peruvian, 28 Apr. 2017, www.newperuvian.com/ how-big-is-peru/.

El Comercio. “Pedro Castillo venció a Keiko Fujimori con una diferencia de votos mayor que PPK.” El Comercio Noticias, El Comercio, 19 July 2021, elcomercio.pe/politica/ pedro-castillo-vencio-a-keiko-fujimori-conuna-diferencia-de-votos-mayor-que-ppken-la-anterior-eleccion-de-2016-elecciones2021-segunda-vuelta-peru-libre-jne-nndc-noticia/#:~:text=Pedro%20Castillo%20 venci%C3%B3%20a%20Keiko%20Fujimori%20 con%20una,presidente%20de%20la%20 Rep%C3%BAblica%20para%20el%20periodo%202021-2026.

“Fiscalía incauta casa en donde Pedro Castillo tenía reuniones clandestinas.” Peru 21, 6 Jan. 2023, peru21.pe/politica/pedro-castillo-fiscalia-allana-vivienda-de-sarratea-alejandro-sanchez-brena-corrupcion-golpe-de-estado-investigacion-fray-vasquez-karelim-lopez-noticia/. Fuentes, Fernando. “Primer sondeo tras primera vuelta en Perú: Pedro Castillo saca 11 puntos de ventaja a Keiko Fujimori y mercado local se desploma.” La Tercera, 19 Apr. 2021, www.latercera.com/earlyaccess/noticia/ primer-sondeo-tras-primera-vuelta-en-peru-pedro-castillo-saca-11-puntos-de-ventaja-a-keiko-fujimori-y-mercado-local-se-desploma

“Ipsos para Lampadia: Mayoría piensa que radicales e ilegales están detrás de la violencia en las marchas.” Peru 21, 24 Jan. 2023, peru21. pe/politica/marchas-en-limas-ipsos-para-lampadia-mayoria-piensa-que-radicales-e-ilegales-estan-detras-de-la-violencia-en-las-protestas-noticia/#:~:text=De%20acuerdo%20a%20 la%20%C3%BAltima%20encuesta%20de%20 Ipsos,grupos%20radicales%20como%20 Movadef%2C%20Sendero%20Luminoso%2C%20entre%20otros.

Lexus. Historia Del Peru. Barcelona, Lexus, 2007.

Manero, Angel. “Abogado, El Patrón Ya No Comerá Mas De Tu Pobreza.” agraria.pe, 17 Mar. 2019, agraria.pe/columna/abogado-elpatron-ya-no-comera-mas-de-tu-pobreza18618#:~:text=En%20su%20mensaje%20 a%20la%20naci%C3%B3n%20ofrecido%20 el,patr%C3%B3n%20ya%20no%20comer%C3%A1%20m%C3%A1s%20de%20 tu%20pobreza%E2%80%9D.

“Peru.” The World Factbook, Cia.gov, www.cia. gov/the-world-factbook/countries/peru/. Sanchez, Roberto. “’Pretensión de Pedro Castillo de cambiar la constitución es ilegal e inconstitucional.’” La Razón, Grupo La Razón, 5 May 2021, larazon.pe/pretension-de-pedro-castillo-de-cambiar-la-constitucion-es-ilegal-e-inconstitucional/#:~:text=La%20propuesta%20del%20candidato%20Pedro%20 Castillo%20de%20cambiar,que%20no%20 podr%C3%ADa%20llevarse%20a%20cabo%20 un%20refer%C3%A9ndum.

Slee, Wendy. “Congreso destituye a Pedro Castillo: ¿Cuántas veces intentaron vacarlo?” trome, 7 Dec. 2022, trome.pe/actualidad/ pedro-castillo-cuantos-intentos-de-mocion-de-vacancia-presidencial-hubo-por-parte-del-congreso-previo-a-su-golpe-de-estado-crisis-politica-noticia/#:~:text=Castillo%20 gobern%C3%B3%20el%20Per%C3%BA%20 desde%20julio%20de%202021,2021%2C%20 cuando%20ten%C3%ADa%204%20meses%20 en%20el%20cargo.

Unitel Digital. “Pedro Castillo gobernó con 60 ministros y es investigado por seis casos de corrupción.” Unitel, 7 Dec. 2022, noticias.unitel.bo/mundo/ pedro-castillo-goberno-con-60-ministros-y-es-investigado-por-seis-casos-de-corrupcion-FE5547531#:~:text=La%20Fiscal%C3%ADa%20de%20Per%C3%BA%20 investiga%20a%20Pedro%20Castillo,en%20 la%20destituci%C3%B3n%20de%20un%20 ministro%20del%20Interior.

“Why was Peru President Pedro Castillo impeached?” Aljazeera, Al Jazeera Media Network, 8 Dec. 2022, www.aljazeera.com/ news/2022/12/8/why-was-peru-president-pedro-castillo-impeached.

AI: Tool or Terror?

By Jeremy Betz

From a dynamic workforce to artistic image generation to college-level writing, it can feel like artificial intelligence has been evolving in all aspects of life. Boston Dynamics’ robots, Stability AI’s Stable Diffusion image generator, and Open AI’s ChatGPT are improving at alarming rates, and there is a greater and greater push to understand how they will affect our world. As it stands, there are three broad realms of AI innovation up for debate: labor, images, and text. Each presents its own set of unique challenges, but the common thread remains: artificial intelligence encroaches on human activity in ways that remain unimaginable to us—and whether that is good or bad is yet to be seen.

Of the three, labor presents what is probably the most quantifiable problem. In a recent video, Boston Dynamics showed how their humanoid robot “Atlas” is capable of assisting in construction-related efforts. Throughout the video, Atlas displays a number of skills: It manipulates its environment to achieve goals, it carries a toolbag while in motion, and it successfully throws the toolbag to the person who requested it. And to top it all off, it jumps back down with a 180-degree spin, and fist-pumps to its success.

Boston Dynamics has been developing what they call “athletic intelligence”, the ability for robots to react like humans or other beings. Videos showing how their quadrupeds respond when kicked, for instance, demonstrate fluid responses and movements beyond a standard autonomously running program. And

movement is the only purpose these androids are built for.

Another of Boston Dynamic’s droids, “Stretch”, best exemplifies the concerns of blue-collar workers. These machines are designed for load work and warehouse jobs, and they are extraordinarily effective at it. These heavy lifters have all but cemented blue-collar concerns over automation replacing jobs, an economic concern many will have to grapple with. And it’s not just simple labor, either. With Atlas showing continuous improvement, warehouse employees aren’t the only ones in trouble. Housekeepers beware, there’s a new and improved Roomba.

Artificial intelligence, it seems, does pose a threat to the economic standard. In a survey done by McKinsey & Co, a consulting firm, nearly 62% of executives said they would need to retrain a quarter of their workforce. In the United States, that number goes to 64%. McKinsey estimates that this would amount to as many as 375 million workers who would face hardship. So, frankly, it seems that being a Luddite makes sense here.

And speaking of Luddites, if there are any who currently represent the caricature of raging anti-tech sentiment, it is those who challenge AI-generated images. In recent months, many image-sharing platforms have faced a spate of anti-AI sentiment. Artstation, one of the most popular sites, decided to remove images that protested AI generation, claiming that the images violated the Terms of Service. Which terms were violated, however, were left unclear. The protest stems from a feeling that image generators are unethical in their training

methods, where the model “scrapes” the internet for images to create a dataset. In other words, the material they create is completely unoriginal.

The images collected come from across the internet, at a scale that can be hard to comprehend. Consider, for a moment, just typing “art” into your search bar. Google returns 12.89 billion results - that is the store of information programs such as Stable Diffusion and other image generators have at their disposal. Some groups, however, have taken action to protect their content against use.

Getty Images, the self-proclaimed “world’s best photo library”, has sued Stability AI, the company that owns Stable Diffusion. In January, the stock image website claimed that Stability AI bypassed the licensing processes for the images, instead illegally obtaining them for the commercial interests of their product. The suit’s outcome is yet to be seen, but it’s guaranteed to have serious ramifications.

In addition to the ethics of training, other criticisms of generated images target the products themselves. In an anonymous interview, a Pingry artist described that they felt AI images started out from a finished product, whereas human art adds originality to the piece. When asked about the likelihood of AI putting human artists out of business, the student said that they felt human art would still be desired over AI images. The student does both photography and drawing, through Pingry and outside of school.

Finally, on to the third realm of AI innovation: text generators like ChatGPT. These chatbots, which create responses based on a

BUFFALO NEWS

SPRING 2023

2023

given prompt, have given rise to concerns over authenticity and cheating. Some concerned individuals, even, have created programs dedicated to detecting AI-generated text.

Princeton Student Edward Tian created the model he calls ChatGPTZero, which detects AI based off of the properties of “perplexity” and “burstiness”. Supposedly, the more ChatGPTZero is perplexed by a text, the more likely it is that it was created by a human. Also, “burstiness” is used to identify human text, as humans are more likely to create sentences of varying lengths. AI chatbots tend to write sentences of uniform length.

However, not all are so concerned. Archie McKenzie, a fellow Princeton student and a teacher’s assistant for the Computer Science 109 course, said of ChatGPT that “If you use it to do your homework, you’ll get a D”. In addition, with regards to programs such as ChatGPTZero, Mr. McKenzie said in an interview to emphasize the risks of false positives. If a student writes a piece that sets off Zero’s alarm bells, that creates a problem that can easily ruin that student’s academic career. In short, the risks of overestimating ChatGPT and other chatbots are great, whereas the risks they pose are minimal.

But this may be confusing. How can programs capable of imitating human speech not pose many risks?

Well, it’s complicated. ChatGPT and similar programs, known as “large language models,” are trained on as much of the Internet as is publicly available. Think of Wikipedia as a benchmark - it made up only 3% of ChatGPT’s training base, according to Mr. McKenzie. ChatGPT, in the training period, scoured the entire web to associate words with other words. Once training is complete, the software creates responses based on probability- how likely words are to appear around other words. This is how ChatGPT is capable of creating a list of citations of studies and people which appear real, yet in fact, have been fabricated. Mr. McKenzie described this inaccuracy as the AI hallucinating, making things up that seem real.

In one experiment, Mr. McKenzie tested ChatGPT on the 2021 exam for his course. On questions that asked for factual information, the AI did very well, regurgitating information verbatim. But when questions required logical reasoning, ChatGPT failed across the board. In all, the chatbot only beat out one student from the course. And it may be impressive that a program did better than a student at one of the top colleges in America, but as Archie said, “you can’t control for people being stupid.” In all, ChatGPT and similar programs don’t seem to pose much threat as of now. The molehill has been made into a mountain, but a proper understanding of how they truly work cuts a looming shadow back down to size.

Similarly, AI in general seems to pose less of a threat than people think. In practical application, only Boston Dynamics’ advancements in working robots are of serious concern. But in the realms of logic, reason, and creativity, humans reign supreme.

A Painting Generated by a Generative AI Model DALL-E

Opium Production in Myanmar

By Sasha Bauhs

On February 1, 2021, a military takeover subdued government control of Myanmar through a coup d’état, leaving the country in an economic, political, and humanitarian plight. Since its independence from British colonial rule in 1948, Myanmar has faced military regime after military regime. In 2011, a civilian government was formed, albeit with heavy military influence. Unfortunately, hopes for full democratic rule were dashed in February 2021, when the civilian government under Aung Sang Suu Kyi was overthrown by yet another military coup. By November 2021, the junta’s security force had killed over 2,400 people and had detained thousands more. There have been many war crimes committed by the junta, including an infantry attack on a school in Let Yet Kone, in the Sagaing Region, an airstrike on an internally displaced persons’ camp, and even airstrikes on music concerts. After two years of chaos, the junta has begun to lose territory and power due to strong Ethnic Armed Organizations and People’s Defense Forces. According to the U.S. Department of State, there are reports of conflict and oppression throughout Myanmar: violence at peaceful protests, air strikes, bombardments, mass burnings of villages and places of worship along with the killing, torture, and jailing of thousands of civilians. The reversion, which led to an economic disaster, has also led to a major uptick in opium (Papaver somniferum) production. Regional Representative Jeremy Douglas from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) commented, “the growth we are witnessing in the drug business is directly connected to the crisis the country is facing.”

The Golden Triangle, the area where Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos meet, has historically been a chief source of opium and heroin production. Opium is a drug that slows messages from the brain to the body and has been used for ages in a medical form dating back to the Sumerian peoples in 3400 BCE. Myanmar is the second

largest producer of opium, behind Afghanistan, however, is quickly approaching the high levels of opium production seen in Afghanistan. Douglas declared, “economic, security and governance disruptions that followed the military takeover have converged, and farmers in remote, often conflict-prone areas in Northern Shan and border states have had little option but to move back to opium.” This increase in opium production, although it requires a lot of labor, it is often the best chance for a livable wage, especially in rural areas.

In 2022, Myanmar produced 795 tons of opium in 40,100 hectares of land, which is a 33% increase in cultivation area since the military takeover. Not only has the amount of land designated for opium production increased, but there has also been increased innovation and industrialization added to poppy cultivation practices, like commercial farms. This is a drastic change from the previous “small, poorly organized plots with relatively low cultivation density” that opium was grown before the dramatic economic instability.

Similarly to Myanmar, since the Taliban (Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan) takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, opium production and employment began to soar as people relied on the market for employment and economic stability. Opium cultivation increased 32% in 2022 and the income made from opium sales from farmers tripled. The Taliban’s ban on opium cultivation also contributed to dramatically high prices, as the majority of the harvest was unaffected due to the late timing of the announcement in the harvesting season.

According to the UNODC’s Opium Cultivation in Afghanistan 2022 Report, the illegal production of opium has become a crucial pillar of Afghanistan’s economy, specifically in rural society, where entire communities are dependent on the income provided by opium to sustain their livelihoods. There continues to be an interesting relationship between tyranny and the growing reliance on activity like opium production for economic stability and employment.

Looking at the future of opium production in Myanmar, opium production will likely

continue to rise as economic instability persists. Myanmar UNODC Country Manager Benedikt Hoftmann comments on suggestions for alternatives to deter Myanmar’s economy from opium, saying, “At the end of the day, opium cultivation is really about economics, and it cannot be resolved by destroying crops which only escalates vulnerabilities.” Moreover, it is “the sharp economic contractions that left a critically weak economy in the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis, and the military takeover in early 2021 may have been among the determining factors that pushed rural households to rely more on opium.” So, that begs the question, could another global or national disaster push even more reliance on the opium industry with the exports from Myanmar as an economic fall-back plan?

Works Cited

Opium Production in Myanmar Surges to Nineyear High. 26 Jan. 2023, www.bbc.com/ news/world-asia-64409019. Accessed 14 May 2023.

“Opium.” Alcohol and Drug Federation, 1 July 2022, adf.org.au/drug-facts/opium/.

Accessed 14 May 2023.

Major Opium Economy Expansion Is Underway in Myanmar. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 26 Jan. 2023, www.unodc.org/roseap/myanmar/2023/01/ myanmar-opium-survey-report/story.html.

Accessed 14 May 2023.

Joint Statement on Marking Two Years since the Military Coup in Myanmar.

U.S. Department of State, 31 Jan. 2023, www. state.gov/ joint-statement-on-marking-two-years-sincethe-military-coup-in-myanmar/ #:~:text=On%201%20February%20

2021%2C%20the,political%2C%20economic%20 and%20humani

tarian%20crisis. Accessed 14 May 2023.

Cybersecurity: A Bulletproof Vest in the Technology World

By Sophia Deeney breaches and cyberattacks (Kaspersky, n.d.).

Cybersecurity, the labyrinth of defense mechanisms and algorithms designed to safeguard internet-connected systems such as hardware, software, and data, has rapidly evolved over the last four decades to provide digital service to the expanding technological world (Shea, Gillis, & Clark, n.d.). Cybersecurity servers are the foundation for computerized safety, supplying automated assistance through several branches such as network security, or the protection of digitized information webs, and cloud security, the preservation of data managed by storage servers (Check Point, n.d.). Coordinated cyberattacks aimed at infiltrating and dismantling a company’s network elicit detrimental effects not only on the operation of a company’s databases but the reputation of a company as a whole. Despite these precarious and unpredictable digital assaults, businesses have failed to uphold their cybersecurity networks by outlining cybersecurity’s high-cost and constant surveillance characteristics (Careerera, 2022). As the magnitude of cyberattacks continues to increase, companies will be compelled to reconsider the implementation of cybersecurity networks into their infrastructure. Although cybersecurity networks are costly and require continuous supervision, they generate monumental safety and productivity benefits that surpass their flaws.

One of the principal advantages of cybersecurity is its ability to effectively safeguard businesses from cyberattacks (Careerera, 2022). Cybersecurity software relies on encryption modes to effectively prevent security

Cybersecurity mechanisms encrypt files using cryptographic protocols to protect valuable business data such as logistics information, sales statistics, inventory updates, and website traffic trends (Kaspersky, n.d.) (Rock Content, 2021). Not only does this process preserve information in transit, but it also protects against theft or damage (Kaspersky, n.d.). As cybersecurity protection continues to evolve, document encryption through applications such as TLS/SSL, Secure Sockets Layer and Transport Layer Security, and SSH, Secure Socket Shell, will become increasingly effective and persuasive to the digital community (Dickens, n.d.) (aws, n.d.) ( Loshin, Cobb, n.d.).

Cybersecurity is not limited to protecting business information; it also orchestrates preserving personal information (Careerera, 2022). Email addresses, personal identification numbers, fingerprints, and diagnostics can be encrypted through communication networks, including TLS/SSL and SSH, that provide instructions to data storage sites for ciphers (Datatilsynet, n.d.). Cryptography begins by converting “plaintext” into “ciphertext,” frequently using digital mathematical structures known as algorithms (Google Cloud, n.d.). To decode the files back to “plaintext,” a decryption key, a series of numbers, or a password generated by an algorithm is required (Google Cloud, n.d.). Secure encryption methods use so many cryptographic keys that it is nearly impossible for an unauthorized person to guess which one is correct or use a computer to readily determine the correct string of characters by sampling every possible combination (Google Cloud, n.d.). Currently, only wealthy

business professionals have access to the intricate encryption technology of cybersecurity; however, cybersecurity engineers are constantly modifying the cybersecurity platform to make it cheaper and more accessible to everyday citizens.

Interestingly, cybersecurity software has been found to enhance productivity (Careerera, 2022). Implementing security initiatives in company databases, such as improved firewalls, virus imaging, and computerized archives, reduces stress surrounding digital safety and thereby promotes productivity in the workplace (Pullein, 2020). Statistical tests can be run more efficiently, corporate issues can be discussed diplomatically, and sales pitches can be given more energetically in a low-stress work environment. Furthermore, elevated productivity levels give companies a competitive advantage. Companies with greater productivity levels produce a greater output and will be more successful in the global market than companies with lower productivity and output (Careerera, 2022).

In addition to creating increased job opportunities, cybersecurity mechanizes employment through its technological bases (Careerera, 2022). Since cybersecurity protects online information, more occupations surrounding digital support and surveillance are required to build a computerized profile. The mechanization of professions can benefit several citizens, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, as many can work as cybersecurity analysts and monitors, for instance, in the comfort of their own homes. This convenience increases the attractiveness of digital jobs and

GOOGLE IMAGES

SPRING 2023

the popularity of cybersecurity roles in the workplace, ultimately increasing the establishment of cybersecurity platforms in businesses.

Technology cynics believe cybersecurity software has several drawbacks, including its high cost and constant surveillance (Careerera, 2022). Although cybersecurity systems are fairly expensive, they benefit struggling companies that have fallen victim to security breaches and cyberattacks (RiskOptics, 2021). These companies should be able to raise funds through various local and corporate events to purchase necessary cybersecurity systems. Furthermore, despite the need for ongoing inspection of cybersecurity software, closely monitoring cybersecurity systems will ultimately benefit businesses in the long term. Though tedious at times, maintaining cybersecurity platforms and completing security updates will protect against future cyberattacks and boost corporations’ productivity and reputation (Careerera, 2022). While cybersecurity structures are expensive and require constant attention, they provide vast safety and productivity benefits that outweigh their flaws and encourage more organizations to establish information security procedures. Cybersecurity is an effective digital security resource because it protects all types of data from theft and damage (Tunggal, 2023). Companies cannot defend themselves against data breach campaigns without a cybersecurity program, making them a convenient target for cybercriminals (Tunggal, 2023). Cybersecurity systems also increase workplace productivity, making companies more successful by giving them a competitive advantage in the global market. The ever-expanding role of cybersecurity in both business and personal life will continue to present model mechanisms for improving digitized safety measures.

Works Cited Check Point (n.d.). What is Cyber Security? https://www.checkpoint.com/cyber-hub/cyber-security/what-is-cybersecurity/ Careerera (2022, March 4). What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Cyber Security? https://www.careerera.com/blog/ what-are-the-advantages-of-cyber-security Shea, S., Gillis, A. S., & Clark, C. (n.d.). What is cybersecurity? TechTarget. https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/definition/cybersecurity#:~:text=Cybersecurity%20is%20the%20 protection%20of,centers%20and%20other%20 computerized%20systems

Dickens, R. (n.d.). What are Encryption Protocols and How Do They Work? Encryption Consulting. https://www.encryptionconsulting.com/what-are-encryption-protocols-and-how-do-they-work/ Kaspersky (n.d.). What is Cyber Security? https://www.kaspersky.com/resource-center/ definitions/what-is-cyber-security

RiskOptics (2021, April 20). How Cybersecurity Works to Keep Your Data Safe.

https://reciprocity.com/how-cybersecurityworks-to-keep-your-data-safe/

Rock Content (2021, July 14). The Importance Of Business Data To Organizational Performance. https://rockcontent.com/blog/ business-data/

Datatilsynet (n.d.). What is personal data? https://www.datatilsynet.dk/english/ fundamental-concepts-/what-is-personal-data-#:~:text=Personal%20data%20may%2C%20 for%20example,in%20combination%20 with%20other%20data

Aws (n.d.). What Is An SSL/TLS Certificate? https://aws.amazon.com/whatis/ssl-certificate/#:~:text=SSL%2FTLS%20 stands%20for%20secure,using%20the%20 SSL%2FTLS%20protocol

Loshin, P., & Cobb, M. (n.d.). Secure Shell (SSH). TechTarget. https://www. techtarget.com/searchsecurity/definition/ Secure-Shell#:~:text=SSH%2C%20also%20 known%20as%20Secure,computer%20over%20 an%20unsecured%20network

Google Cloud (n.d.). What is encryption? https://cloud.google.com/ learn/what-is-encryption#:~:text=Encryption%20works%20by%20encoding%20 %E2%80%9Cplaintext,also%20created%20 by%20an%20algorithm

Pullein, C. (2020, February 11). 3 Ways Improved Cybersecurity Can Boost Your Productivity. Medium. https://medium. com/carl-pullein/3-ways-improved-cybersecurity-can-boost-your-productivity-7228876f993d#:~:text=By%20implementing%20a%20range%20of,will%20enjoy%20 a%20welcome%20boost

Tunggal, A. T. (2023, May 1). Why is Cybersecurity Important? UpGuard. https://www. upguard.com/blog/cybersecurity-important

VITAL SIGNS