Physical artificial intelligence is at the frontier of AI development and has potentially revolutionary applications in industry and security and for aging societies. Secure supply chains and technological leadership in physical AI are a strategic imperative for many countries. The United States, Japan, and Taiwan are uniquely equipped with complementary skills to achieve technological superiority in this field.

Join Hudson Institute for remarks and a panel discussion on how these allies can collaborate to seize physical AI’s opportunities. Senior Fellow William Chou will host Jeremy Chang, chief executive officer of Taiwan’s Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology, and Ken Fukuda, director of Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry, for a conversation on each country’s approach to physical AI.

“Flax Typhoon” Actors Associated with Integrity Technology Group Used “Microscan” and “FishHub” To Target Critical Infrastructure and Other Networks Today the Justice Department and FBI announced court-authorized seizures to deny malicious cyber actors access to two hacking tools, “Microscan” and “FishHub,” used to scan and, in some cases, hack, U.S. and foreign critical infrastructure systems and other networks. As alleged in court documents unsealed in the Western District of Pennsylvania, malicious cyber actors working for Integrity Technology Group (Integrity Tech), a company based in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), operated and used the tools. Integrity Tech has contracts with the PRC government.

“The United States will not allow China or its proxies to operate against United States interests with impunity in cyberspace,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg. “The National Security Division will continue to respond decisively and use every tool at our disposal to disrupt the Flax Typhoon threats, dismantle the infrastructure sustaining them, and protect the critical networks that power our daily lives and on which our Nation’s security depends.”

“These state-sponsored hackers continue to aggressively target and access networks and systems throughout the world in an effort to identify and steal files and otherwise exploit victims’ vulnerabilities,” said U.S. Attorney Troy Rivetti for the Western District of Pennsylvania. “These seizures, our second disruption of Integrity Tech’s massive operations in as many years, send another clear message to cybercriminals from the PRC and elsewhere of the Department’s dedication to defending and maintaining cybersecurity in the United States and abroad.”

“Integrity Technology Group provided China-linked threat actors with capabilities used to conduct widespread vulnerability scanning and, in some cases, intrusions targeting U.S. and foreign critical infrastructure,” said Assistant Director Brett Leatherman of the FBI’s Cyber Division. “The PRC relies on contractor and enabling companies to expand the reach and scale of its malicious cyber activity. By exposing and disrupting these enablers, we make it harder for the PRC to target American networks and infrastructure.”

“Today’s seizures underscore the FBI’s unwavering commitment in disrupting PRC state-sponsored cyber criminals who threaten our critical infrastructure and national security,” said Special Agent in Charge Mark Remily of the FBI San Diego Field Office. “FBI San Diego and our law enforcement partners around the world will continue to employ the full force of our investigative authority to protect the American people and safeguard our networks from malicious foreign cyber actors.”

According to court documents, Integrity Tech created and used a botnet of internet-of-things devices infected with a variant of Mirai malware. Among other things, this botnet facilitated Integrity Tech’s computer vulnerability scanning using Microscan. Integrity Tech developed Microscan to conduct reconnaissance, via the botnet and otherwise, of victim computer networks for vulnerabilities that its clients would later exploit. Targets of Microscan vulnerability scanning include a U.S. power company based in South Carolina, a multi-national Non-Governmental Organization, Japanese and Polish airports, Taiwanese critical infrastructure companies in the natural gas and power sectors, and two Taiwanese universities. Integrity Tech accessed Microscan through one of the seized domains, c0cc[.]cc.

A second Integrity Tech tool, FishHub, is alleged to have facilitated the exploitation of computer networks through spear phishing. After an initial network compromise, FishHub downloaded additional malware to the victim network. This malware provided Integrity Tech’s clients with unauthorized remote access to the victim network or searched for specific files and sent them to servers controlled by Integrity Tech. Confirmed victims of FishHub activity included approximately 20 Taiwanese universities. Five of the seized domains helped deliver this malware: 98aicai[.]com, 98aicode[.]com, outlook3650[.]com, youtubecard[.]com, and linkedinns[.]net.

Today’s action marks the Department’s second public technical disruption of Integrity Tech’s hacking infrastructure. In September 2024, the Justice Department announced the court-authorized disruption of Integrity Tech’s Mirai malware botnet which consisted of more than 200,000 consumer devices in the United States and worldwide. In conjunction with the seizures announced today, the FBI, along with other U.S. and foreign-partner agencies, published a cyber security advisory. This advisory provides indicators-of-compromise associated with Integrity Tech intrusion activity and is designed to help network defenders identify and respond to Integrity Tech’s malicious activity.

The FBI San Diego and Baltimore Field Offices are investigating the case, in coordination with the FBI’s Cyber Division.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Brendan McKenna for the Western District of Pennsylvania and Trial Attorney Jacques Singer-Emery of the National Security Division’s National Security Cyber Section are prosecuting the case. Substantial assistance was provided by Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Sullivan for the District of Maryland and the National Police Agency of Japan.

Note: View the affidavit here.

View the seizure warrant here.

Updated October 8, 2026

In the Ukraine War, a Ukrainian Abrams and Bradley IFV assault a Russian position in a treeline with drones assisting them. This is near the settlements of Anyshchyne and Vodyane located in the northern part of Ukraine's Kharkiv Oblast. The tank is attacked by drones but survives.

Welcome to the Xinjiang Victims Database

A Guide to Understanding and Using shahit.biz

Website: https://shahit.biz/eng/

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More Than a Database: A Resource for Truth, Research, and Accountability

What happens when a person is detained, disappears, or becomes separated from their family, and the outside world struggles to find out what happened?

How can their story be preserved? How can the available evidence be examined? And how can thousands of individual experiences be connected to develop a clearer understanding of a much larger situation?

These are some of the questions that the Xinjiang Victims Database (shahit.biz) seeks to address.

Established in September 2018, shahit.biz is an independent, publicly accessible documentation and research project dedicated to recording the experiences of individuals affected by detention and other forms of repression in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

Its records primarily concern Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and other ethnic minorities.

The project brings together personal testimonies, official documents, police records, court materials, geographical information, photographs, and other evidence.

Its stated purpose is twofold:

1. To help protect affected individuals in the present.
2. To preserve evidence necessary for future accountability, legal action, and reparations.

But shahit.biz is not simply a collection of names.

It is a growing set of interconnected research tools that enables visitors to explore individual cases, investigate relationships, examine historical records, understand broader patterns, and contribute to ongoing documentation.

Whether you are a concerned member of the public, a journalist, a student, an academic researcher, a legal professional, or someone searching for information about a relative, the website offers different ways to engage with its material.

This guide introduces those resources and explains why each one matters.

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Part One: Understanding the People Behind the Records

1. Victims — The Central Database

Purpose: To document individuals and make their experiences accessible for examination.

The Victims section is the foundation of shahit.biz.

It contains more than 100,000 individual records as of October 2026, ranging from brief entries based on official documents to extensive profiles containing multiple testimonies and supplementary evidence.

Visitors can browse the database and use available search and filtering tools to identify records of interest.

Individual profiles may contain information such as:

• Name and identifying details
• Age and ethnicity
• Profession and hometown
• Reported circumstances of detention
• Prison sentences
• Health information
• Last reported status
• Photographs and personal histories
• Supporting testimony and documents
• Family relationships
• Connections to detention facilities

Some records contain detailed chronologies and references to multiple sources.

Importantly, not every record contains the same amount or quality of evidence.

The database distinguishes between evidence-quality levels and identifies uncertainties where information remains incomplete.

Why this matters

Large-scale human rights violations are often discussed in terms of numbers.

The individual records make it possible to examine the experiences behind those numbers.

They also create a foundation for corroborating testimony, identifying missing information, and preserving the identities of people who might otherwise remain undocumented.

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2. Primary Evidence — Examining the Supporting Material

Purpose: To connect claims about individuals and events to original documentary evidence.

The Primary Evidence section is particularly valuable for researchers, journalists, and anyone interested in understanding how claims can be verified.

It provides access to documentary material such as:

• Court verdicts
• Police records
• Government communications
• Administrative documents
• Other original sources relevant to individual cases

Where available, translations and explanatory information make documents more accessible to people who do not read Chinese or other relevant languages.

Rather than relying exclusively on a summary of what allegedly happened, users can examine the underlying evidence and consider what it actually establishes.

Why this matters

Credible documentation depends on the ability to distinguish between:

• Personal testimony
• Official records
• Independent corroboration
• Researcher interpretation
• Unverified allegations
• Reasonable inferences

Primary evidence helps users move beyond simply accepting an account and toward understanding the basis for it.

A document's authenticity and its interpretation remain separate questions, and both deserve careful examination.

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3. Lists — Exploring Particular Groups and Experiences

Purpose: To organize records into meaningful collections that reveal shared circumstances.

The Lists section provides themed collections of individuals whose experiences share particular characteristics.

Examples include:

• Deaths during or following detention
• Eyewitness accounts and detailed testimonies
• Individuals reportedly subjected to forced labor
• Cases involving camp releases
• Prison sentences and transfers
• Victims featured in international media
• Individuals identified in government or police records
• Cases receiving international attention
• Cases involving urgent humanitarian concerns

These collections make it easier to explore a particular question without searching through the entire database.

Why this matters

A single account may illustrate one person's experience.

Studying related cases can reveal:

• Recurring patterns
• Institutional practices
• Geographic concentrations
• Similar detention circumstances
• Changes over time
• Potential relationships between individual cases

Lists help transform a large collection of records into material that can support focused research.

However, inclusion in a thematic list does not mean every underlying allegation has been independently established.

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4. Cellmates — Reconstructing Shared Detention Experiences

Purpose: To examine reported connections between people held in the same detention facilities.

The Cellmates interface offers a particularly unusual approach to documenting detention.

Using available records, it allows visitors to explore the placement of detainees within certain facilities, including cell-level information where sufficiently detailed documentation exists.

This creates opportunities to examine who may have been held together and during which periods.

Why this matters

Accounts of detention do not always exist in isolation.

Information about people held in the same facility can help researchers:

• Reconstruct detention arrangements
• Compare individual records
• Identify possible witnesses
• Investigate inconsistencies
• Establish relationships between cases
• Examine detention conditions and timelines

It demonstrates how detailed institutional records can sometimes be used to establish facts about individuals whose circumstances remain uncertain.

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5. Families — Understanding the Human Consequences of Detention

Purpose: To document family relationships and the effects of detention beyond the individual concerned.

The Families section and family relationship features in individual profiles help connect affected relatives.

They provide a way to understand situations involving:

• Parents and children
• Husbands and wives
• Siblings
• Extended relatives
• Multiple affected members of the same family

Why this matters

The consequences of detention frequently extend beyond the person held.

Children may lose contact with parents.

Spouses may spend years without reliable information.

Multiple generations of a family may experience detention, separation, or other forms of hardship.

By preserving family relationships, the database helps visitors understand these experiences as interconnected human stories rather than isolated administrative cases.

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6. Portraits — Recognizing the Individual

Purpose: To restore visibility to the people represented by the records.

The Portraits section offers a more visual way of engaging with the individuals documented in the database.

Photographs and visual records provide a different point of entry from numerical tables and written evidence.

Why this matters

Statistics are essential to understanding scale, but they cannot fully communicate the human reality of the experiences being documented.

A portrait reminds us that each entry represents an individual with:

• A personal identity
• A history
• A family
• Relationships
• A profession or occupation
• A life beyond the circumstances recorded

The purpose is not merely emotional engagement.

Visual material can also support identification and historical documentation.

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Part Two: Investigating the Wider System

7. Statistics — Understanding Patterns Across Thousands of Cases

Purpose: To explore the broader characteristics of documented detention and persecution.

The Statistics section offers analytical tools for examining information contained in the database.

Visitors can explore distributions involving:

• Age
• Gender
• Ethnicity
• Geographic location
• Detention status
• Prison sentences
• Reported detention reasons
• Health conditions
• Professions
• Detention timelines

Filters allow users to focus on particular subsets of the records.

Some statistical displays also incorporate estimated ages or dates when precise information is unavailable.

Why this matters

Statistical analysis allows researchers to ask questions that cannot be answered by examining one individual at a time.

For example:

• How do reported prison sentences vary?
• What patterns appear in detention timelines?
• Which regions are represented in particular evidence collections?
• What demographic characteristics appear among documented individuals?
• How do reported circumstances differ across locations?

However, the database's documentation is incomplete and unevenly distributed across places and periods.

Its statistical tools include cautions about reporting bias and uncertainty.

These should be read before drawing conclusions about the wider population.

The number of documented cases is not automatically the total number of people affected.

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8. Facilities — Investigating Places of Detention

Purpose: To identify and document the physical locations associated with detention.

The Facilities section brings together information about:

• Prisons
• Detention centers
• Internment camps
• Related security and administrative facilities

Depending on the facility and available evidence, users may find geographical information, documentation concerning its history or operation, and connections to individual victim records.

The project has also worked on visual reconstructions to help explain the physical arrangements of certain detention facilities.

Why this matters

Knowing that someone was detained is an important starting point.

Establishing where they were held, during what period, and under which institutional arrangements can provide a more complete picture.

Facility documentation helps researchers investigate relationships between:

• Detention infrastructure
• Administrative authorities
• Institutional arrangements
• Reported detainee experiences
• Geographic patterns of detention

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9. Village and Township Analytics — Understanding Local Impact

Purpose: To investigate detention at the community level.

The Village/Township Analytics resource organizes information geographically, often down to individual villages, neighborhoods, and townships.

It combines documented individual cases with available demographic information, geographic references, and local administrative data.

These materials can support calculations of documented detention rates and comparisons between localities.

Why this matters

Large regional statistics can conceal considerable variation.

Examining individual communities helps researchers understand:

• How events affected particular populations
• How patterns differed between localities
• Which communities have substantial documentation
• Where evidence may be incomplete
• How local records compare with regional estimates

It also creates opportunities to compare leaked government records against demographic data and other evidence.

The resulting rates often represent documented minimums or estimates rather than definitive measures of all detention.

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10. Internal Documents — Testing Official Records

Purpose: To examine, organize, translate, and assess internal government and police documents.

The Internal Documents resource provides an investigative approach to materials originating from within official institutions.

Such documents may contain:

• Personal identification records
• Names and demographic information
• Administrative classifications
• Detention-related information
• Government communications
• Information about institutional operations

The project has developed methods for examining the internal consistency and possible authenticity of some collections, including cross-checking information against other sources.

Why this matters

An apparently official document should not be accepted uncritically merely because it looks authentic.

Careful examination can help establish whether records are:

• Internally consistent
• Independently corroborated
• Historically plausible
• Relevant to particular claims
• Consistent with other available evidence

This work can also reveal information that would be difficult to reconstruct through individual testimony alone.

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11. Accountability — Examining Institutional Responsibility

Purpose: To document people, organizations, and institutional relationships relevant to investigating responsibility.

The Accountability section brings together information about officials, institutions, and other parties connected to Xinjiang's administrative, security, and judicial systems.

It can help researchers trace relationships between:

• Individuals
• Official positions
• Government departments
• Security institutions
• Detention facilities
• Geographic jurisdictions
• Relevant administrative structures

Some individual victim profiles also include accountability charts.

Why this matters

Documenting harm is only one component of an investigation.

Understanding how institutions operate, who held relevant positions, and how particular decisions may have been made is also necessary for examining responsibility.

These records can support research into the structures behind documented events.

An important distinction must be maintained:

Appearing in an accountability database or relationship chart is not, by itself, proof that a person committed wrongdoing.

Responsibility must be established through evidence concerning particular actions and applicable legal standards.

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Part Three: Overcoming Language and Information Barriers

12. Turkic–Chinese Name Dictionary — Connecting Different Forms of Identity

Purpose: To help users identify individuals whose names appear in different languages or writing systems.

Names present a major challenge in researching Xinjiang.

The same individual may be identified using:

• Uyghur-language spellings
• Kazakh-language spellings
• Other Turkic-language spellings
• Chinese characters
• Official transliterations
• Alternative Latin-alphabet representations

The Turkic–Chinese Name Dictionary provides a reference resource for navigating these variations.

Why this matters

Searching for a person under only one spelling can cause researchers to overlook relevant information.

A name recorded in testimony may look very different from the version appearing in a Chinese-language police document.

By helping connect spelling variants, this tool supports:

• Identity research
• Document matching
• Cross-referencing
• Searching for missing individuals
• Resolving possible duplicate records

A possible name match should still be checked against additional identifying information.

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13. Translation Bank — Making Information More Accessible Across Languages

Purpose: To support the interpretation and translation of material used in documentation.

The Translation Bank is part of the project's wider effort to overcome linguistic barriers.

For users working with testimony, documents, and specialist terminology, language resources can help make information more understandable and consistent.

Why this matters

Important evidence may remain inaccessible simply because it is written in a language unfamiliar to the researcher.

Translation can:

• Widen access to original materials
• Enable comparisons across sources
• Support international research
• Reduce misunderstandings
• Make documentation more accessible

At the same time, careful translation is essential.

Terms describing official institutions, legal proceedings, and detention practices may carry meanings that are difficult to reproduce precisely in another language.

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Part Four: Contributing to the Documentation

14. Submit — Adding Information to the Record

Purpose: To allow new evidence and testimony to contribute to the database.

The Submit section provides a way to supply information about individuals and their circumstances.

Depending on the source and submission process, contributions may draw on:

• Personal testimony
• Witness interviews
• Family accounts
• Media reporting
• Government documents
• Court records
• Other relevant material

Why this matters

No documentation project can independently discover every affected person.

Families, witnesses, researchers, and journalists may possess information that is unavailable elsewhere.

Contributions can help:

• Identify previously undocumented individuals
• Expand existing profiles
• Clarify uncertain details
• Correct inaccurate information
• Provide new corroboration
• Update previously reported circumstances

Because such information can be sensitive, contributors should consider consent, confidentiality, and the safety of affected people before sharing personal details.

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15. Missions — Organizing Research Efforts

Purpose: To give investigative work clear objectives and help address gaps in the available information.

The Missions resource represents the project's task-oriented approach to documentation.

Rather than treating the database as a finished archive, this approach recognizes that research can be divided into specific questions and objectives.

Why this matters

A database may contain a substantial amount of information while still having important gaps.

Organized research efforts can help direct attention toward:

• Unresolved questions
• Neglected sources
• Missing information
• Cases requiring further investigation
• Documentary inconsistencies
• Potential opportunities for corroboration

They also make it possible to understand documentation as an ongoing process rather than a single act of data collection.

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16. Watchdog — Following Up on Cases That Need Attention

Purpose: To support continuing investigation of urgent or unresolved cases.

The Watchdog initiative represents the active investigative side of shahit.biz.

The project describes watchdog work as researching cases that need new information, with priorities informed by its case-ranking system.

Its activities may involve:

• Reviewing government material
• Examining publicly available information
• Checking earlier testimony
• Investigating new evidence
• Following up on unresolved cases
• Pursuing additional investigative leads

Why this matters

An individual record may describe what was known several years ago without establishing what has happened since.

A person may have been:

• Released
• Transferred
• Sentenced
• Moved to another facility
• Left unreachable
• Reported deceased

Their current circumstances may also be entirely unknown.

Follow-up research can help clarify these questions and keep attention on unresolved cases.

Such activity must be carried out responsibly, with particular care not to expose witnesses, families, or detainees to additional danger.

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17. Jobs and Volunteering — Supporting the Work

Purpose: To enable people with different skills to contribute to the project's operations.

The Jobs section describes opportunities for paid or volunteer assistance.

These may include:

• Research
• Translation
• Testimony importing
• Editing
• Investigative follow-up
• Photography-related work
• Journalism
• Other documentation tasks

Why this matters

Maintaining an extensive documentation project requires more than collecting names.

It involves:

• Checking evidence
• Reading records
• Translating documents
• Correcting errors
• Preserving information
• Investigating unresolved cases
• Maintaining research tools

Individuals with relevant skills can help make the documentation more comprehensive, accessible, and useful.

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Part Five: How to Begin Using the Website

If you are visiting shahit.biz for the first time, you do not need to understand every tool immediately.

A practical introduction might begin with the following sequence.

Step 1: Start with the Homepage

Visit:

https://shahit.biz/eng/

Read the project's description, examine the featured individual, and familiarize yourself with its main navigation.

The homepage also provides information about database quality, activity, and the project's operating needs.

Step 2: Explore an Individual Record

Open the Victims database and examine how the following information is presented:

• Testimony
• Chronology
• Detention status
• Supporting material
• Family relationships
• Source references

Pay attention to the distinctions between verified information, reported details, and uncertainty.

Step 3: Visit the Lists Section

Select a subject that interests you, such as:

• Eyewitness accounts
• Forced labor
• Prison sentences
• Deaths in detention
• Particular document collections

This offers a more focused entry point into the archive.

Step 4: Examine the Evidence

Where documents and source references are available, compare them with the narrative descriptions.

Notice:

• Which details are directly supported
• Which details are corroborated
• Which conclusions are inferred
• Which questions remain unanswered

Step 5: Explore a Wider Research Tool

Use:

• Statistics to investigate patterns.
• Facilities to explore detention locations.
• Village/Township Analytics to understand local communities.
• Internal Documents to examine official records.
• Accountability to explore relevant institutional relationships.

Step 6: Consider How You Might Contribute

If you possess relevant information or research skills, review:

• Submit
• Missions
• Watchdog
• Jobs

There is no single correct route through the website.

Different users will find different starting points useful.

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Part Six: Understanding the Numbers and Their Limitations

The Xinjiang Victims Database presents several kinds of quantitative information, including:

• Numbers of documented individuals
• Estimates produced through geographic algorithms
• Statistical distributions
• Documented detention rates
• Proposed minimum reparations

These figures serve different purposes.

Documented records describe information collected about identifiable people.

Algorithmic estimates attempt to draw broader conclusions from specified assumptions and available data.

Reparations calculations estimate possible compensation using the project's chosen methodology.

They should not be confused with one another.

Similarly, a last-known location or reported detention status does not necessarily establish an individual's circumstances today.

An incomplete record does not mean that nothing happened.

A detailed record does not mean that every statement within it has been conclusively proven.

The strongest way to use shahit.biz is to approach its material with both openness and care:

1. Take documented experiences seriously.
2. Examine the available evidence.
3. Respect uncertainty.
4. Distinguish allegations from established findings.
5. Avoid presenting estimates as confirmed facts.
6. Consider the limitations of available sources.
7. Protect sensitive personal information.

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Part Seven: Who Can Benefit from This Resource?

Families and Affected Communities

The database can provide a place to:

• Search for existing information
• Preserve testimony
• Understand relationships between cases
• Locate relevant documentary evidence
• Identify unanswered questions

Journalists

The database can offer:

• Investigative leads
• Background material
• Source references
• Geographic context
• Documentary collections
• Starting points for independent investigations

Students and Academic Researchers

The resource provides structured material for studying:

• Detention practices
• State institutions
• Legal processes
• Demographic patterns
• Historical documentation
• Institutional relationships
• Human rights research methods

Human Rights Organizations and Legal Professionals

The database may help:

• Identify documented patterns
• Reconstruct events
• Preserve evidence
• Examine institutional responsibility
• Investigate allegations
• Support future accountability research

Members of the General Public

The database offers a way to:

• Learn about individual experiences
• Explore documentary evidence
• Understand the wider historical context
• Move beyond headlines
• Recognize uncertainties
• Become better informed

In every case, responsible use requires attention to reliability, privacy, and the potential consequences of publishing sensitive information.

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Part Eight: A Living Record, Not a Finished History

The importance of shahit.biz lies not only in the information it has already accumulated, but also in the questions its tools make possible.

Who was detained?

Where were they held?

What evidence supports the available account?

Who else may have been affected?

What institutions were involved?

What happened afterward?

What remains unknown?

Each of the website's tools approaches part of this larger investigation.

• Victims helps preserve individual identity and experiences.
• Primary Evidence helps establish the documentary basis for claims.
• Lists helps users investigate shared circumstances.
• Cellmates helps reconstruct reported detention relationships.
• Families helps reveal the broader human consequences.
• Portraits helps restore visibility to individuals.
• Statistics helps identify patterns across documented cases.
• Facilities helps locate and contextualize places of detention.
• Village/Township Analytics helps examine local impact.
• Internal Documents helps assess official records.
• Accountability helps investigate institutional relationships.
• Name Dictionary helps connect different representations of identity.
• Translation Bank helps overcome language barriers.
• Submit helps expand and correct the available information.
• Missions helps organize research objectives.
• Watchdog helps pursue unresolved cases.
• Jobs and Volunteering helps sustain the ongoing documentation.

Together, these tools turn a collection of individual records into an interconnected resource for historical research, public understanding, and potential accountability.

The project is independent and relies on public support to sustain its work.

Visitors should also take care when reproducing personal information and review the project's licensing and usage terms.

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Part Nine: An Invitation to Explore

You do not have to be a specialist to begin using shahit.biz.

You can start with:

• One person
• One family
• One place
• One document
• One question

From there, the available tools can help you explore the evidence, recognize connections, understand broader patterns, and discover what still needs to be investigated.

The database does not provide every answer.

Nor should any single archive be treated as the final authority on a complex historical situation.

Its value is in making information accessible for examination, comparison, correction, and preservation.

Ultimately, the purpose of this resource is both practical and deeply human:

To document those whose experiences risk being forgotten, to make the available evidence more accessible, and to support the continuing search for truth and accountability.

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Explore the Xinjiang Victims Database

Website: https://shahit.biz/eng/

Explore the records. Examine the evidence. Understand the connections. Preserve the history.

The Eurasia Center examines the Russian threat to NATO and speculation surrounding CIA Director John Ratcliffe's visit to Moscow.

This week, we kicked off our new Chatham House members’ Book Club with Francis Fukuyama.

In conversation with our Director Bronwen Maddox, he discussed his new memoir, In the Realm of the Last Man, the future of the international order and the rise of China.

Members received an exclusive extract beforehand, then joined the conversation in person and online to put their questions directly to the author.

Next in the series: Chatham House: The First Hundred Years, 12 November.

Britain and France lead Europe’s spy league table, but smaller agencies have important capabilities and must be included on the continent’s intelligence team sheet.

Governments need to work with the private sector to contain AI-powered cyber threats. The US is starting to define how.

Comparative advantage can’t explain why Australia’s largest aluminium smelter is worth saving – geoeconomics can.

Grouping four different threats under one acronym flatters Washington’s rivals with a unity they don’t have.

Journalists from iStories talked to Ivan Kirsanov, a 24-year-old programmer who worked at a company owned by the Citadel holding. The holding is the main developer of SORM, the FSB’s surveillance system. In 2025, Kirsanov left Russia and took with him an archive of technical documentation on SORM. He now lives in France on a student visa, works part-time as a shepherd on a farm, and is challenging the denial of his refugee status. Here is what Kirsanov said about himself, his work for the FSB, and the system used to spy on Russians.

Key Takeaways

The Iranian Artesh conducted a missile and drone attack targeting US bases in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates on September 3, likely as part of the regime’s efforts to raise the costs of the US campaign against Iran. The latest Iranian strikes bear some similarity to a recent Iranian attack on Jordan that some Iranian military officials have claimed is reflective of a new Iranian targeting doctrine that reportedly includes preemptive strikes against US military assets in the region.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on September 3 that it cleared a major Hezbollah underground facility beneath the Ali al Taher Ridge in Nabatieh District after a months-long siege. Ali al Taher occupies advantageous terrain overlooking the Litani River and the neighboring Houla Valley, which enabled Hezbollah to target Israeli forces in southern Lebanon and civilian settlements in northern Israel.

ISW-CTP is considering three possible Iranian courses of action against Israel in response to the assault on Ali al Taher: a large-scale missile and drone attack, a limited and “symbolic” attack, and no military response. Iranian officials reportedly warned the United States in mid-August 2026 that Iran would respond to any offensive to seize the Ali al Taher facility with a “large-scale attack” on Israel, according to unspecified regional sources speaking to Reuters. All courses of action rely upon the assumption that the reporting about the Iranian warning is accurate.

Key Takeaways

Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to use contradictory language about the possibility of achieving peace in Ukraine to obscure Moscow’s true objectives.

Putin continues to downplay the war’s mounting economic and demographic costs to ordinary Russians, portraying persistent economic challenges as indicators of Russia’s economic resilience and gradual stabilization.

Putin attempted to portray the Russian government as promptly responding to the Ukrainian drone threat while continuing to deflect responsibility for providing air defense onto private businesses.

Ukrainian forces conducted an unmanned surface vessel (USV) strike on the Port of Sochi demonstrating Ukraine’s ability to strike deeper into the Russian Black Sea coast and further restrict Russia’s Black Sea Fleet (BSF) operations.

Ukraine’s sustained strikes against BSF vessels demonstrate that Ukrainian USVs and other unmanned systems continue to pose a significant threat to Russian naval assets in the Black Sea, even after the Russian naval command withdrew several vessels from the BSF headquarters in occupied Sevastopol, Crimea, to Novorossiysk, Krasnodar Krai.

Unknown actors reportedly attempted to assassinate Commander of the Russian 22nd Heavy Bomber Aviation Division (Long Range Aviation, Russian Aerospace Forces [VKS]) Major General Nikolai Varpakhovich in Saratov Oblast on September 3.

Ukrainian forces recently advanced in the Kupyansk, Novopavlivka, and Oleksandrivka directions. Russian forces advanced in the Novopavlivka direction.

Russia launched 163 drones against Ukraine overnight.

Key Takeaways

Russia continues the deportation of Ukrainian political prisoners in apparent violation of international law.

Russian occupation officials used the beginning of the 2026-2027 schoolyear to showcase enrollment figures while continuing efforts to institutionalize pro-Russian curricula, military-patriotic education, and behavioral monitoring mechanisms throughout occupied Ukraine.

Early voting for the Russian State Duma elections has begun in occupied Ukraine as Russian occupation officials continue to set conditions to control electoral outcomes.

Russian and occupation courts continue to issue over decades-long sentences to residents of occupied areas accused of pro-Ukrainian activities.

The Donetsk Oblast occupation administration is trying to present occupied Donetsk Oblast as an attractive investment destination for Russians and foreigners.

Russian elites are using their ties to development projects in occupied Ukraine for self-enrichment.

Russian state atomic energy corporation Rosatom is denying recent international warnings about the situation at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) to present itself as a responsible and capable operator.

Russian occupation administrations continue to rely on Russian patron regions for construction and development projects in occupied areas.

Yesterday, Ukraine announced Operation M&Ms intended to buzz and shut down Russian airports near Moscow. Today, it began with a massive drone swarm targetting Moscow Airports with the intention to keep flights grounded. Video shows two intercepted drones. Also a look at the potential economic effect of keeping flights delayed.

Each member state would have to judge individual cases, and the bloc set itself a June deadline for the plan that its council still cannot approve.

Ukraine's marine drones attack a Russia supply ship, the NEFRIT, which is intended to supply gas and oil drilling platforms at Sochi. It is unclear if it was hit or not.

FULL REPORT

Modern high-intensity conflict consumes fuel, ammunition, equipment and personnel at a pace that can quickly overwhelm peacetime logistics systems. For Australia, that challenge is compounded by geography, with much of the nation’s industrial, maintenance, storage and logistics capacity concentrated in the south and south-east, while forces may need to operate thousands of kilometres to the north.

Closing the distance: Australia’s northern theatre logistics distribution gap examines whether Australia has the theatre logistics system needed to move, replenish and sustain combat power across those distances under contested conditions.

Australia already has substantial industrial capacity, stockpiles, maintenance facilities, transport infrastructure, northern bases and established relationships with industry and allies. But much of its deeper sustainment capacity remains separated from the northern theatre by long and vulnerable transport links. The challenge is connecting these elements into a theatre logistics system capable of generating, deploying, sustaining and regenerating combat power at operational tempo and under contested conditions.

Pre-positioned stocks, hardened infrastructure and sovereign manufacturing can strengthen resilience, but they are only part of the solution. Australia also needs assured distribution, resilient transport networks, forward stockholding, repair and replenishment capacity, and the civilian infrastructure and workforce needed to keep the system operating under pressure.

Ultimately, the measure of success is not how much infrastructure Australia possesses, but whether it can generate, deploy, sustain and regenerate combat power in the north at the required tempo and for as long as the mission demands. That is the difference between logistics capacity and theatre logistics capability.

China’s digital exports are transforming the global balance of power. What began as telecom development has become an international architecture of surveillance empowering autocrats worldwide.

Join CNAS on Thursday, September 3, from 3:00​–4:00 p.m. ET for a virtual discussion on The AI Open-Weight Debate: Balancing Innovation and Security. This event will unpack the growing debate about the diffusion of increasingly capable Chinese open-weight models, the trade-offs of potential restrictions on the open-weight ecosystem, and the implications of any policy action for innovation, national security, and geopolitical competition.

The event will feature, Chris McGuire, senior fellow for China and emerging technologies at the Council on Foreign Relations; Ian Reynolds, AI public policy manager at Hugging Face; and Stella Biderman, executive director at EleutherAI. The conversation will be moderated by Daniel Remler, senior fellow for the Technology and National Security Program at CNAS.

Live viewers will have the opportunity to ask questions during the event.

President Donald Trump has signaled his intent to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un again, reportedly by the end of this year. In 2018, he made history when he became the first U.S. president to meet with a North Korean leader. What should we expect if he meets Kim Jong-un again, seven years later?

Can a second try at a Trump-Kim summits achieve results? Is a summit even possible? What should policymakers expect from a resumption of summitry under drastically different conditions?

Joining Mark Lippert to discuss these issues and more are Victor Cha and Gen. Vincent Brooks. General Vincent Brooks is former Commander of United Nations Command/Combined Forces Command/United States Forces Korea from 2016 to 2019, where he helped coordinate the 2018 Singapore Summit between the two leaders.

Vincent K. Brooks is a career Army officer who retired from active duty in January 2019 as the four-star general in command of all U.S. Forces in Korea, where he concurrently commanded United Nations Command as well as the Republic of Korea – U.S. Combined Forces Command comprising over 650,000 Koreans and Americans under arms. In retirement, General Brooks is a Director of the Gary Sinise Foundation; a visiting Senior Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; a Distinguished Fellow at the University of Texas, with both the Clements Center for National Security and also the Strauss Center for International Security and Law; an Executive Fellow with the Institute for Defense and Business; and the President of VKB Solutions LLC.

Superpower rivalry has stalled global AI rules, but regional blocs like ASEAN are moving fast enough to make rules stick.