Protesters becoming subject to counter-terrorism investigations

The Intercept, 9/13–The protest did not go off as planned. In February 2023, government recruiters came to the student union at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor, stacking National Security Agency-branded plastic cups and splaying out pamphlets about Navy fringe benefits… Everything about the protest had been relatively routine, right down to the arrests, but the local and federal authorities saw something more sinister…the local sheriff’s office in Oakland County, Michigan, documented the incident in a case report as a hate crime against law enforcement. The FBI recorded the incident as part of a terrorism investigation…

Over the following months…the FBI’s counterterrorism investigation unlocked additional federal resources, deepened coordination with military intelligence, generated sustained counterterrorism attention on minor acts of vandalism, and ultimately culminated in a six-person boots-on-the-ground operation conducting physical surveillance of the Stop Camp Grayling Week of Action.

Chip trade war between U.S. and China accelerates 

NikkeiAsia, 8/31–An analysis of China's current semiconductor technology revealed that the country is approaching a level three years behind industry leader Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), showing the limitations of U.S. efforts to stem Beijing's development of cutting-edge chips….(China’s) SMIC, which is subject to U.S. measures to suppress advanced chip technology, is capable of producing 7-nanometer chips. TSMC supplied 5-nm processors to Huawei for the 2021 phone. Generally, the smaller the nanometer size, the higher the performance and the smaller the chip…The two chips have similar areas and performance levels…TSMC also faces growing hurdles to stay ahead of Chinese rivals technologically as miniaturizing circuits become increasingly difficult.

"The U.S. regulations so far have only slightly delayed Chinese innovation, while sparking efforts by the Chinese chip industry to boost domestic production,"... TSMC also faces growing hurdles to stay ahead of Chinese rivals technologically as miniaturizing circuits become increasingly difficult. "The U.S. regulations so far have only slightly delayed Chinese innovation, while sparking efforts by the Chinese chip industry to boost domestic production," …

India’s intelligence agency active in U.S. against Sikh independence activists

The Guardian, 8/22–A Sikh separatist leader was attacked on a California highway earlier this month in a shooting that his organization has described as an assassination attempt. Satinder Pal Singh Raju, an organizer with Sikhs for Justice and an advocate for the establishment of an independent Sikh state, Khalistan, was traveling on the Interstate 505 near Sacramento on 11 August when the truck he was in was “sprayed with bullets.” He survived the shooting.

Raju is an associate of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian advocate for Khalistan who was assassinated in Vancouver in 2023, according to Sikhs for Justice. The Canadian government has said there were “credible allegations” that “agents of the Indian government” were behind Nijjar’s death. California has long been home to a strong Sikh independence movement, and Raju has helped organize referendum efforts in the state to show support for Khalistan.

Over 600 Palestinians in West Bank killed in the last year

Al Jazeera, 8/16–Palestinians in the occupied West Bank are reeling after Israeli settlers ravaged a village overnight, killing a 23-year-old man and injuring several others in the latest incident of deadly violence against Palestinians in the area. Dozens of masked Israeli settlers descended on the village, opening fire on residents, setting cars ablaze and destroying homes and other property, according to witnesses and video footage from the assault. The attack came amid a surge in Israeli military and settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, which has unfolded in the shadow of Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip. Nearly 600 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank between the start of the Gaza war…A spokesperson for the US National Security Council said that “attacks by violent settlers against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank are unacceptable and must stop.”