In Defence of the Em Dash
This is a tale of punctuation.
A small one — a dash, to be precise. The em dash, for those still confusing it with the hyphen. A mark so modest it doesn’t even have its own key, and yet lately it’s been put on trial like a criminal.
Apparently, it’s now the universal coded signal that something was — shock horror — written by a large language model.
If you use one — just one — readers are now encouraged to assume you’re a robot. A fraud. A gutter rat parsing their forgeries as authenticities. That’s…...
Read full article ...
https://off-guardian.org/2025/09/28/in-defence-of-the-em-dash/
This is a tale of punctuation.
A small one — a dash, to be precise. The em dash, for those still confusing it with the hyphen. A mark so modest it doesn’t even have its own key, and yet lately it’s been put on trial like a criminal.
Apparently, it’s now the universal coded signal that something was — shock horror — written by a large language model.
If you use one — just one — readers are now encouraged to assume you’re a robot. A fraud. A gutter rat parsing their forgeries as authenticities. That’s…...
Read full article ...
https://off-guardian.org/2025/09/28/in-defence-of-the-em-dash/
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A New and Darker McCarthy Era Descends with the Night
We are all obscurantists now, deep in crepuscular propaganda, looking for light. “It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there,” as Bob Dylan’s sings in “Not Dark Yet.” “Well, my sense of humanity has gone down the drain.”
It’s a sentiment more and more people can identify with as dark, dangerous, and duplicitous news reports loot the public’s mind of any sense of logical understanding by…...
Read full article ...
https://off-guardian.org/2025/09/28/a-new-and-darker-mccarthy-era-descends-with-the-night/
“In a dark time, the eye begins to see…What’s madness but nobility of soul
At odds with circumstance?…A steady storm of correspondences!”
Theodore Roethke, In a Dark Time
We are all obscurantists now, deep in crepuscular propaganda, looking for light. “It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there,” as Bob Dylan’s sings in “Not Dark Yet.” “Well, my sense of humanity has gone down the drain.”
It’s a sentiment more and more people can identify with as dark, dangerous, and duplicitous news reports loot the public’s mind of any sense of logical understanding by…...
Read full article ...
https://off-guardian.org/2025/09/28/a-new-and-darker-mccarthy-era-descends-with-the-night/
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Would Orwell Be Branded a Terrorist? The Government’s War on Thought Crimes
The Trump administration is taking its war on…...
Read full article ...
https://off-guardian.org/2025/09/29/would-orwell-be-branded-a-terrorist-the-governments-war-on-thought-crimes/
“Those who created this country chose freedom. With all of its dangers. And do you know the riskiest part of that choice they made? They actually believed that we could be trusted to make up our own minds in the whirl of differing ideas. That we could be trusted to remain free, even when there were very, very seductive voices—taking advantage of our freedom of speech—who were trying to turn this country into the kind of place where the government could tell you what you can and cannot do.”
Nat Hentoff
The Trump administration is taking its war on…...
Read full article ...
https://off-guardian.org/2025/09/29/would-orwell-be-branded-a-terrorist-the-governments-war-on-thought-crimes/
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WATCH: Escaping the Madhouse – #SolutionsWatch
If you’ve watched Dissent Into Madness then you’ll not only know about the ways that psychological insights are being weaponized against us but, more importantly, you’ll have an idea about what we can do about it. Today on #SolutionsWatch, James considers more ideas for escaping from this societal madhouse garnered from the new Psychology course at OpenSourceEducation.online.
Sources, shownotes and links – as well as audio versions and download options – can be found here. Previous episodes of #SolutionsWatch can be found here andhere.
Follow us on Telegram for regular updates & commentary...
Read full article ...
https://off-guardian.org/2025/09/29/watch-escaping-the-madhouse-solutionswatch/
If you’ve watched Dissent Into Madness then you’ll not only know about the ways that psychological insights are being weaponized against us but, more importantly, you’ll have an idea about what we can do about it. Today on #SolutionsWatch, James considers more ideas for escaping from this societal madhouse garnered from the new Psychology course at OpenSourceEducation.online.
Sources, shownotes and links – as well as audio versions and download options – can be found here. Previous episodes of #SolutionsWatch can be found here andhere.
Follow us on Telegram for regular updates & commentary...
Read full article ...
https://off-guardian.org/2025/09/29/watch-escaping-the-madhouse-solutionswatch/
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Yuck! The Sour Taste of the Modern Food System
The Yuka app is a mobile application designed to help consumers quickly assess the health quality of food and cosmetic products by scanning their barcodes. It produces a health score ranging from 0 to 100 and provides a colour-coded rating, which categorises products as excellent, good, mediocre or poor for health.
The scoring system is based on three weighted factors: nutritional quality (60%), presence and risk of additives (30%) and organic certification status (10%).
Using frameworks like Nutri-Score and data from the European Food Safety Authority among others, Yuka evaluates calories, sugar, saturated fats, salt, protein, fibre and fruit…...
Read full article ...
https://off-guardian.org/2025/09/30/yuck-the-sour-taste-of-the-modern-food-system/
The Yuka app is a mobile application designed to help consumers quickly assess the health quality of food and cosmetic products by scanning their barcodes. It produces a health score ranging from 0 to 100 and provides a colour-coded rating, which categorises products as excellent, good, mediocre or poor for health.
The scoring system is based on three weighted factors: nutritional quality (60%), presence and risk of additives (30%) and organic certification status (10%).
Using frameworks like Nutri-Score and data from the European Food Safety Authority among others, Yuka evaluates calories, sugar, saturated fats, salt, protein, fibre and fruit…...
Read full article ...
https://off-guardian.org/2025/09/30/yuck-the-sour-taste-of-the-modern-food-system/
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So, the Digtal ID narrative is falling apart….and yet I have doubts.
And so the UK’s Digital ID is official. Not legal, no laws have been passed, not even real in the sense it exists at all. But it is official, with the full backing of the Labour Government.
I have talked and written extensively and at length about the planned rollout of Digital ID, the many and varied uses of Digital ID and the pervasive danger to liberty posed by Digital ID. They have pitched it as a solution to every problem, it has been on the agenda for twenty years.
The official announcement is, possibly, the least…...
Read full article ...
https://off-guardian.org/2025/10/02/so-the-digtal-id-narrative-is-falling-apart-and-yet-i-have-doubts/
And so the UK’s Digital ID is official. Not legal, no laws have been passed, not even real in the sense it exists at all. But it is official, with the full backing of the Labour Government.
I have talked and written extensively and at length about the planned rollout of Digital ID, the many and varied uses of Digital ID and the pervasive danger to liberty posed by Digital ID. They have pitched it as a solution to every problem, it has been on the agenda for twenty years.
The official announcement is, possibly, the least…...
Read full article ...
https://off-guardian.org/2025/10/02/so-the-digtal-id-narrative-is-falling-apart-and-yet-i-have-doubts/
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PANEL: The IMA Discuss Free Speech
The latest IMA panel discusses the principle of “free speech” and what exceptions (if any) should be made, including the age-old “fire in a crowded theatre” argument and the supposed “hate speech” exemption. They also tackle growing threat to free speech from both sides of the aisle in the wake of the Charlie Kirk assassination and the right’s embracing of their own version of “cancel culture”.
Panel Members: Ryan Cristian, Derrick Broze, Jason Bermas, James Corbett, Kit Knightly, Hrvoje Moric, Carey Wedler, Charlie Robinson & Steve Poikonen.
You can read the Independent Media Alliance mission statement…...
Read full article ...
https://off-guardian.org/2025/10/02/panel-the-ima-discuss-free-speech/
The latest IMA panel discusses the principle of “free speech” and what exceptions (if any) should be made, including the age-old “fire in a crowded theatre” argument and the supposed “hate speech” exemption. They also tackle growing threat to free speech from both sides of the aisle in the wake of the Charlie Kirk assassination and the right’s embracing of their own version of “cancel culture”.
Panel Members: Ryan Cristian, Derrick Broze, Jason Bermas, James Corbett, Kit Knightly, Hrvoje Moric, Carey Wedler, Charlie Robinson & Steve Poikonen.
You can read the Independent Media Alliance mission statement…...
Read full article ...
https://off-guardian.org/2025/10/02/panel-the-ima-discuss-free-speech/
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Let’s Talk About…The Manchester Synagogue Attack
Yesterday morning, a Synagogue in Manchester was allegedly the site of a terrorist attack, when a knife-wielding Muslim man attacked Jews gathering for Yom Kippur, killing two and injuring four.
The suspect was allegedly shot by armed police officers, bringing the total death count to three.
Since then we’ve been told the suspect’s name was Jihad Al-Shamie, that he was out on bail for rape, and that at least two of the victims may have been hit by police gunfire:
Read full article ...
https://off-guardian.org/2025/10/03/lets-talk-about-the-manchester-synagogue-attack/
Yesterday morning, a Synagogue in Manchester was allegedly the site of a terrorist attack, when a knife-wielding Muslim man attacked Jews gathering for Yom Kippur, killing two and injuring four.
The suspect was allegedly shot by armed police officers, bringing the total death count to three.
Since then we’ve been told the suspect’s name was Jihad Al-Shamie, that he was out on bail for rape, and that at least two of the victims may have been hit by police gunfire:
Greater Manchester Police said that its officers shot one of the two victims who…...
Read full article ...
https://off-guardian.org/2025/10/03/lets-talk-about-the-manchester-synagogue-attack/
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Transhumanism, Psychotherapy and ChatBots
Strange times, indeed, folks. Strange times.
Should we be concerned? I think so. In the end, I am sure it will work out, but there will likely be a lot of time between now and the end. So, we will have to endure some pretty radical changes during that time. And many of these changes will not be very pretty.
So, what do I have my shrew ire up about now? Nothing new, really.
I wrote a rather tongue-in-cheek article a while back called “My Brief Love Affair with a ChatBot.” This current article isn’t so light-hearted. Don’t…...
Read full article ...
https://off-guardian.org/2025/10/04/transhumanism-psychotherapy-and-chatbots/
Strange times, indeed, folks. Strange times.
Should we be concerned? I think so. In the end, I am sure it will work out, but there will likely be a lot of time between now and the end. So, we will have to endure some pretty radical changes during that time. And many of these changes will not be very pretty.
So, what do I have my shrew ire up about now? Nothing new, really.
I wrote a rather tongue-in-cheek article a while back called “My Brief Love Affair with a ChatBot.” This current article isn’t so light-hearted. Don’t…...
Read full article ...
https://off-guardian.org/2025/10/04/transhumanism-psychotherapy-and-chatbots/
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I miss my cat.
He was in a tree the first time I saw him. It wasn’t a big tree, but he wasn’t a big cat. Barely more than a kitten, really, stubby-tailed and squeaky. The branch was no more than three feet off the ground, but he was pretty sure he was stuck.
In the end he figured it out. He was very brave.
The next time I saw him, I threw him a piece of ham.
He was already my cat by then, I just didn’t know it yet. He was young enough and sleek enough and bright-eyed enough that I…...
Read full article ...
https://off-guardian.org/2025/10/05/i-miss-my-cat/
He was in a tree the first time I saw him. It wasn’t a big tree, but he wasn’t a big cat. Barely more than a kitten, really, stubby-tailed and squeaky. The branch was no more than three feet off the ground, but he was pretty sure he was stuck.
In the end he figured it out. He was very brave.
The next time I saw him, I threw him a piece of ham.
He was already my cat by then, I just didn’t know it yet. He was young enough and sleek enough and bright-eyed enough that I…...
Read full article ...
https://off-guardian.org/2025/10/05/i-miss-my-cat/
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Battlefield America: Trump’s War on the Enemy Within—the American People
Read full article ...
https://off-guardian.org/2025/10/06/battlefield-america-trumps-war-on-the-enemy-within-the-american-people/
“The era of the Department of Defense is over… From this moment forward, the only mission of the newly restored Department of War is this: warfighting… We untie the hands of our warfighters to intimidate, demoralize, hunt and kill the enemies of our country… You kill people and break things for a living.”
Pete Hegseth
“America is under invasion from within… That’s a war, too. It’s a war from within… We should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military… it’s the enemy from within, and we have to…...
Read full article ...
https://off-guardian.org/2025/10/06/battlefield-america-trumps-war-on-the-enemy-within-the-american-people/
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The BritCard Digital ID Psyop
Apparently, in order to be able to work in the UK, we will all be forced to adopt digital ID—the mandatory so-called BritCard. There is absolutely no public appetite for this, as the more than 2 million and rising (at the time of writing) signatures to the online petition to stop it demonstrates.
Of course, online petitions don’t make any difference to governments, but at least they illustrate to us that government propaganda, such as the IPSOS poll that alleges 57% of the UK public want digital ID, is garbage. Though given IPSOS enormous…...
Read full article ...
https://off-guardian.org/2025/10/07/the-britcard-digital-id-psyop/
Apparently, in order to be able to work in the UK, we will all be forced to adopt digital ID—the mandatory so-called BritCard. There is absolutely no public appetite for this, as the more than 2 million and rising (at the time of writing) signatures to the online petition to stop it demonstrates.
Of course, online petitions don’t make any difference to governments, but at least they illustrate to us that government propaganda, such as the IPSOS poll that alleges 57% of the UK public want digital ID, is garbage. Though given IPSOS enormous…...
Read full article ...
https://off-guardian.org/2025/10/07/the-britcard-digital-id-psyop/
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Manufacturing Consent: Big Ag’s Playbook of Propaganda and Power
Antonio Gramsci argued that propaganda is the main fabric through which contemporary power asserts itself. For Gramsci, propaganda is central to cultural hegemony; in other words, the dominance of a particular worldview (often that of the ruling class or elite) that is so deeply internalised by society that it becomes ‘common sense’ and uncritically accepted as natural and inevitable.
There are many reasons why transnational agribusiness has been able to secure its dominance in the global food system, not least its enormous economic and political clout. However, Gramsci’s insights, alongside Bernays’s ‘engineering of consent’ and Chomsky and Herman’s media…...
Read full article ...
https://off-guardian.org/2025/10/08/manufacturing-consent-big-ags-playbook-of-propaganda-and-power/
Antonio Gramsci argued that propaganda is the main fabric through which contemporary power asserts itself. For Gramsci, propaganda is central to cultural hegemony; in other words, the dominance of a particular worldview (often that of the ruling class or elite) that is so deeply internalised by society that it becomes ‘common sense’ and uncritically accepted as natural and inevitable.
There are many reasons why transnational agribusiness has been able to secure its dominance in the global food system, not least its enormous economic and political clout. However, Gramsci’s insights, alongside Bernays’s ‘engineering of consent’ and Chomsky and Herman’s media…...
Read full article ...
https://off-guardian.org/2025/10/08/manufacturing-consent-big-ags-playbook-of-propaganda-and-power/
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Let’s Talk About…Trump’s Gaza Ceasefire
The Big News yesterday was that both sides of the conflict in Gaza have agreed to the first stages of a ceasefire plan put forward by the White House.
Breaking news says the remaining hostages, having somehow escaped being blown up in the indiscriminate bombardment of a tiny city enclave, will be released on Monday as part of a prisoner exchange.
Israel is expecting to begin pulling their forces out of Gaza within hours, with a resumption of aid deliveries.
What are we to make of this?
It depends how the narrative unfolds. My prediction is that this ceasefire…...
Read full article ...
https://off-guardian.org/2025/10/09/lets-talk-about-trumps-gaza-ceasefire/
The Big News yesterday was that both sides of the conflict in Gaza have agreed to the first stages of a ceasefire plan put forward by the White House.
Breaking news says the remaining hostages, having somehow escaped being blown up in the indiscriminate bombardment of a tiny city enclave, will be released on Monday as part of a prisoner exchange.
Israel is expecting to begin pulling their forces out of Gaza within hours, with a resumption of aid deliveries.
What are we to make of this?
It depends how the narrative unfolds. My prediction is that this ceasefire…...
Read full article ...
https://off-guardian.org/2025/10/09/lets-talk-about-trumps-gaza-ceasefire/
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WATCH: The Lost Art of “Yes, And…” – #SolutionsWatch
Let me give you some advice that could change your life forever. It’s called “yes, and” and it will transform your arguments into productive conversations. Let me show you how.
Sources, shownotes and links – as well as audio versions and download options – can be found here. Previous episodes of #SolutionsWatch can be found here andhere.
Follow us on Telegram for regular updates & commentary...
Read full article ...
https://off-guardian.org/2025/10/10/watch-the-lost-art-of-yes-and-solutionswatch/
Let me give you some advice that could change your life forever. It’s called “yes, and” and it will transform your arguments into productive conversations. Let me show you how.
Sources, shownotes and links – as well as audio versions and download options – can be found here. Previous episodes of #SolutionsWatch can be found here andhere.
Follow us on Telegram for regular updates & commentary...
Read full article ...
https://off-guardian.org/2025/10/10/watch-the-lost-art-of-yes-and-solutionswatch/
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The Very Straight and the Very Narrow
I see a lot of young people in my practice. You know, the kids just out of university and setting out to make their mark in the world. They seem to have a very narrow focus. Get through school and training as effortlessly as possible, find a career that pays really well with little hard work required, and walk as narrow a line as possible by avoiding anything that isn’t part of the mainstream.
I remember when I was a young person (a million years ago), it was simply not like that. Sure, people have wanted money for a…...
Read full article ...
https://off-guardian.org/2025/10/11/the-very-straight-and-the-very-narrow/
I see a lot of young people in my practice. You know, the kids just out of university and setting out to make their mark in the world. They seem to have a very narrow focus. Get through school and training as effortlessly as possible, find a career that pays really well with little hard work required, and walk as narrow a line as possible by avoiding anything that isn’t part of the mainstream.
I remember when I was a young person (a million years ago), it was simply not like that. Sure, people have wanted money for a…...
Read full article ...
https://off-guardian.org/2025/10/11/the-very-straight-and-the-very-narrow/
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UK Digital ID: The BritCard Bait and Switch
In my previous article I suggested that the UK’s proposed “mandatory” digital ID, called the BritCard, was a bait and switch psyop. I posited that the arguments presented by Keir Starmer’s purported Labour government, to supposedly justify the BritCard rollout, coupled with the timing of the announcement, the apparent inability to understand public opinion, and the lack of necessity for the BritCard, indicated that there was something amiss with the so-called government’s BritCard proposition.
It seems to me that the purpose of the BritCard gambit is to frame the Overton Window for the…...
Read full article ...
https://off-guardian.org/2025/10/11/uk-digital-id-the-britcard-bait-and-switch/
In my previous article I suggested that the UK’s proposed “mandatory” digital ID, called the BritCard, was a bait and switch psyop. I posited that the arguments presented by Keir Starmer’s purported Labour government, to supposedly justify the BritCard rollout, coupled with the timing of the announcement, the apparent inability to understand public opinion, and the lack of necessity for the BritCard, indicated that there was something amiss with the so-called government’s BritCard proposition.
It seems to me that the purpose of the BritCard gambit is to frame the Overton Window for the…...
Read full article ...
https://off-guardian.org/2025/10/11/uk-digital-id-the-britcard-bait-and-switch/
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This Week in the New Normal #106
Our successor to This Week in the Guardian, This Week in the New Normal is our weekly chart of the progress of autocracy, authoritarianism and economic restructuring around the world.
1. Return of the “planetary health diet”
The Lancet has published its review and recommendations for the UN’s “Planetary Health Diet”.
Spoiler alert: They’re in favour of it.
The EAT-Lancet report calls for a global food system that is “healthy, sustainable, and just”, echoing previous calls for a two-thirds reduction in meat production and consumption, with a…...
Read full article ...
https://off-guardian.org/2025/10/12/this-week-in-the-new-normal-106/
Our successor to This Week in the Guardian, This Week in the New Normal is our weekly chart of the progress of autocracy, authoritarianism and economic restructuring around the world.
1. Return of the “planetary health diet”
The Lancet has published its review and recommendations for the UN’s “Planetary Health Diet”.
Spoiler alert: They’re in favour of it.
The EAT-Lancet report calls for a global food system that is “healthy, sustainable, and just”, echoing previous calls for a two-thirds reduction in meat production and consumption, with a…...
Read full article ...
https://off-guardian.org/2025/10/12/this-week-in-the-new-normal-106/
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Trump’s Everywhere War: An Insurrection Against the Constitution
When the government can label anyone or anything an enemy in order to wage war,…...
Read full article ...
https://off-guardian.org/2025/10/13/trumps-everywhere-war-an-insurrection-against-the-constitution/
“When they came in the middle of the night, they terrorized the families that were living there. There were children who were without clothing, they were zip tied, taken outside at 3 o’clock in the morning. A senior resident, an American citizen with no warrants, was taken outside and handcuffed for three hours. Doors were blown off their hinges, walls were broken through, immigration agents coming from Black Hawk helicopters … This is America.”
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson
When the government can label anyone or anything an enemy in order to wage war,…...
Read full article ...
https://off-guardian.org/2025/10/13/trumps-everywhere-war-an-insurrection-against-the-constitution/
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Beneath the Flyover, Beside the Temple
The word ‘development’ is often invoked as a moral good. Corporations and international investors regard it as a massive business opportunity, and politicians sell it as a template for ‘progress’.
For decades, development has been framed as the path out of poverty and a holy grail. But there are certain things that are seldom questioned, at least in mainstream narratives: what is development, who defines it, and what does it destroy?
Perhaps we should begin by answering the last question first by turning to India: it destroys the rural—by the deliberate running down of agriculture resulting in a decades-long…...
Read full article ...
https://off-guardian.org/2025/10/15/beneath-the-flyover-beside-the-temple/
The word ‘development’ is often invoked as a moral good. Corporations and international investors regard it as a massive business opportunity, and politicians sell it as a template for ‘progress’.
For decades, development has been framed as the path out of poverty and a holy grail. But there are certain things that are seldom questioned, at least in mainstream narratives: what is development, who defines it, and what does it destroy?
Perhaps we should begin by answering the last question first by turning to India: it destroys the rural—by the deliberate running down of agriculture resulting in a decades-long…...
Read full article ...
https://off-guardian.org/2025/10/15/beneath-the-flyover-beside-the-temple/
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Russian banks unveil “pay with your palm”
Last week, Russian government officials and representatives from fintech firms gathered for the annual Finopolis forum to discuss the future of Russian finance and banking.
source: https://finopolis.ru/en
The conference was held in the Sirius Federal Territory, located outside of Sochi, which operates under an “experimental legal regime”, allowing the municipality to implement “projects that serve as models for Russian regions”.
Thanks to its special status, Sirius has plans to fast-track the use of robots, artificial intelligence, biometric technologies, and the digital ruble in shops and restaurants.
It’s perhaps no surprise then that Russia’s fintech…...
Read full article ...
https://off-guardian.org/2025/10/16/russian-banks-unveil-pay-with-your-palm/
Last week, Russian government officials and representatives from fintech firms gathered for the annual Finopolis forum to discuss the future of Russian finance and banking.
source: https://finopolis.ru/en
The conference was held in the Sirius Federal Territory, located outside of Sochi, which operates under an “experimental legal regime”, allowing the municipality to implement “projects that serve as models for Russian regions”.
Thanks to its special status, Sirius has plans to fast-track the use of robots, artificial intelligence, biometric technologies, and the digital ruble in shops and restaurants.
It’s perhaps no surprise then that Russia’s fintech…...
Read full article ...
https://off-guardian.org/2025/10/16/russian-banks-unveil-pay-with-your-palm/
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