CNTR | Arms Control Research11h ago
As AI’s demand for water and energy grows, orbital data centers are proposed as an alternative. Yet, this shift does not resolve underlying challenges—it merely relocates them, Sarah McKee argues in an article on #PRIFBlog. Training large AI models consumes vast freshwater, and rocket launches affect the stratosphere. Satellites as potential targets blur civilian-military lines, raising sustainability and governance concerns. ⬇️
https://blog.prif.org/2026/05/28/escaping-the-heat-the-politics-and-problems-of-orbital-data-centers/
Escaping the Heat? The Politics and Problems of Orbital Data Centers - PRIF BLOG

What happens when digital systems outgrow the Earth that sustains them? Computing has always consumed energy and water, but the growing ambitions of the AI industry are pushing demand to an unprecedented scale. As pressures mount, data centers in orbit around the Earth have been pitched as a solution. But space is no escape, and what is framed as a technical fix risks entrenching digital dependence in an increasingly militarized, fragile, and crisis-prone environment. Orbital data centers simply relocate critical infrastructure into an already contested domain where the boundaries between civilian and military systems blur, satellites become strategic targets, and systemic disruption becomes a tool of coercion.

PRIF BLOG
PRIF2d ago

📣 In 28 African and 10 Latin American countries as well as in India, movements of working children actively protect children’s rights on the ground. On #PRIFblog, Nadine Benedix argues: these organizations challenge dominant assumptions of children as passive beneficiaries in international governance ⬇️

🔗https://blog.prif.org/2026/06/09/who-protects-childrens-rights-working-children-as-agents-in-child-rights-governance/

#ChildrensRights #WorkingChildren #InternationalGovernance #ECOWAS

Who Protects Children’s Rights? Working Children as Agents in Child Rights Governance - PRIF BLOG

Global child rights and child labour regulation aim to protect children from exploitation and abuse and to empower them to claim their rights. Yet organisations designed to help children, especially working children, often treat them as the passive beneficiaries of protective interventions that may alleviate hardship in the short-term but reinforce disempowerment in the long-term. Evidence from organised working children’s movements in the Global South challenges this assumption. These movements actively implement, adapt, and influence child rights frameworks. This blog article shows how these movements can themselves provide protection and argues that child protection and rights actors should move beyond consultation-based participation toward recognising children as co-producers of protection and governance.

PRIF BLOG
PRIF3d ago

📢 Erstmals scheiterte Deutschland bei einer Kandidatur für den UN-Sicherheitsrat. Frederik Schissler argumentiert auf #PRIFblog: Diese Niederlage offenbart eine Dissonanz zwischen dem deutschen Selbstbild und wie Deutschlands Außenpolitik wirklich in der Welt wahrgenommen wird.

➡️ Jetzt lesen: https://blog.prif.org/2026/06/08/zwischen-selbstbild-und-wirklichkeit-was-deutschlands-un-niederlage-wirklich-offenbart/

#UNSC #UNGA80 #Außenpolitik #Deutschland

Zwischen Selbstbild und Wirklichkeit: Was Deutschlands UN-Niederlage wirklich offenbart - PRIF BLOG

Erstmals scheiterte Deutschland bei einer Kandidatur für den UN-Sicherheitsrat. Die Erklärungen für die deutliche Niederlage kreisen um die späte Kandidatur, mangelndes Kanzler-Engagement oder die deutsche Israel-Politik. Doch diese verlorene Wahl lässt sich nicht nur auf eine Mängelliste reduzieren. Sie legt etwas Tieferliegendes frei: die Dissonanz zwischen dem deutschen Selbstbild und wie Deutschlands Außenpolitik wirklich in der Welt wahrgenommen wird.

PRIF BLOG
PRIFJun 3

Some extremists deradicalise when confronted with counter-narratives. However, others defend their extremist beliefs vigorously. 🔦 In the latest PRIF Spotlight, Jonatan Kurzwelly explains how unconscious defence strategies shape extremists’ attitudes.

Read now on #PRIFblog: ⬇️

https://blog.prif.org/en/2026/06/02/the-resilience-of-radicalism-overcoming-psychological-defences-in-deradicalisation-work/

#PreventExtremism #CounterExtremism #Deradicalisation #Psychology

The Resilience of Radicalism. Overcoming Psychological Defences in Deradicalisation Work - PRIF BLOG

Why do some extremists deradicalise when confronted with counter-narratives or positive intergroup contact, while others entrench even deeper into their beliefs? While the external factors that pull people away from radical milieus are well documented, the internal psychological defences used to resist doubt are frequently overlooked. Drawing on interviews with former extremists, this Spotlight describes the unconscious defence strategies that allow radicalised individuals to reduce cognitive dissonance and sustain their extremist attitudes.

PRIF BLOG
PRIFMay 29

AI infrastructure needs freshwater for cooling. As many data centers are already located in water-stressed areas, proposals to move computation into the orbit arise. However, this could risk international security, writes Sarah McKee on #PRIFblog.

Read the full piece here ⬇️

https://blog.prif.org/2026/05/28/escaping-the-heat-the-politics-and-problems-of-orbital-data-centers/

#AI #space #security

Escaping the Heat? The Politics and Problems of Orbital Data Centers - PRIF BLOG

What happens when digital systems outgrow the Earth that sustains them? Computing has always consumed energy and water, but the growing ambitions of the AI industry are pushing demand to an unprecedented scale. As pressures mount, data centers in orbit around the Earth have been pitched as a solution. But space is no escape, and what is framed as a technical fix risks entrenching digital dependence in an increasingly militarized, fragile, and crisis-prone environment. Orbital data centers simply relocate critical infrastructure into an already contested domain where the boundaries between civilian and military systems blur, satellites become strategic targets, and systemic disruption becomes a tool of coercion.

PRIF BLOG
PRIFMay 28

The Georgian government claims alignment to EU standards. However, it attempts to exert greater control over the media with the so-called foreign agent law at the same time. Therefore, Seljan Haji argues that EU standards have become a political battlefield in Georgia.

Read more on #PRIFblog ⬇️

https://blog.prif.org/2026/05/27/when-eu-norms-become-political-weapons-media-freedom-and-the-limits-of-europeanization-in-georgia/

#Georgia #EU #media

When EU Norms Become Political Weapons: Media Freedom and the Limits of Europeanization in Georgia - PRIF BLOG

Georgia has been an EU candidate country since December 2023. In 2024, the Georgian parliament passed the so-called foreign agent law, which was modelled on Russian legislation. Reporters Without Borders documented more than 600 attacks on journalists in ​​a single year. Both the ruling party and the opposition claim to support Europe. However, Georgia's candidacy was effectively terminated in 2025, due to the country's democratic backsliding. This compels us to ask why EU pressure is failing to protect media freedom in Georgia. 

PRIF BLOG
PRIFMay 26

📣Dass die Menschen, die in Afghanistan leben, unter dem dortigen Regime leiden, ist bekannt. Dr. Patoni Teichmann erklärt im neuen #PRIFblog, wie auch in Deutschland lebende Afghan*innen zunehmend von den Taliban kontrolliert werden könnten. Jetzt lesen ⬇️

https://blog.prif.org/2026/05/22/normalisierung-durch-diplomatie-und-sicherheitsrisiken-der-taliban-einfluss-auf-afghanische-auslandsvertretungen-in-deutschland/

#Afghanistan #AfghanDiaspora #Germany #Diplomacy

Normalisierung durch Diplomatie und Sicherheitsrisiken – Der Taliban-Einfluss auf afghanische Auslandsvertretungen in Deutschland - PRIF BLOG

Die afghanischen Auslandsvertretungen in Deutschland werden zunehmend durch Taliban-Vertreter kontrolliert. Dies betrifft die Botschaft in Berlin, das Generalkonsulat in Bonn sowie das Generalkonsulat in München, wie verschiedene Medien berichten (zum Beispiel: Tagesschau; Deutschlandfunk/ARD-Recherche; Reuters; DIE ZEIT ). Die Kontrolle der Vertretungen durch die Taliban kann nicht auf die Frage der konsularischen Vertretung begrenzt werden. Es geht vielmehr um das Sicherheitsgefühl hier lebender afghanischer Frauenrechtlerinnen, Oppositioneller, Journalistinnen, ehemaliger Ortskräfte und Minderheiten, die hierdurch neuen Formen transnationaler Einschüchterung ausgesetzt werden. Der Blog diskutiert diese Risiken und was sie für Deutschland und die deutsche Außenpolitik bedeuten.

PRIF BLOG
PRIFMay 19
Recent protests in Iran have seen growing backlash against the feminist roots of the Woman, Life, Freedom movement. This not only sidelines feminist voices but creates a new layer of harm by normalizing war as a pathway to change, writes Shiva Sharifzad on #PRIFblog.
https://blog.prif.org/2026/05/19/against-the-woman-life-freedom-movement-anatomy-of-a-backlash/
Against the “Woman, Life, Freedom” Movement: Anatomy of a Backlash - PRIF BLOG

Recent protests in Iran have been increasingly dominated by voices that represent a backlash against the feminist foundations of the Woman, Life, Freedom movement. What began as a movement centered on women’s rights, bodily autonomy, and resistance to systemic gender discrimination has gradually been reframed through a masculinist narrative that frames itself as the sole voice of Iran. In doing so, this backlash not only marginalizes the voices of feminists and reduces diversity, but also introduces a new layer of harm by normalizing war as a pathway to change.

PRIF BLOG
PRIFMay 7

💡 How can Germany react to nuclear threats from Russia? On #PRIFblog, Sascha Hach argues: The most reliable approach to preventing any nuclearization of conflicts will probably not be to echo nuclear threats, but rather to strengthen its conventional deterrence.

➡️ Read the full piece now: https://blog.prif.org/2026/05/07/be-it-under-a-foreign-or-a-national-umbrella-the-strategic-cost-of-nuclear-deterrence-for-germany-is-too-high/

Be It under a Foreign or a National Umbrella: The Strategic Cost of Nuclear Deterrence for Germany is Too High - PRIF BLOG

Russia’s Saber-Rattling and the Resurgence of Nuclear Deterrence in NATO

PRIF BLOG
PRIFMay 6
One chokepoint, global compounding effects: 18 PRIF researchers show how the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz affects different regions and intersects with conflict dynamics. Read now on #PRIFblog ⤵️
https://blog.prif.org/en/2026/05/06/the-strait-of-hormuz-in-perspective-one-global-chokepoint-multiple-vulnerabilities-compounded-effects/
#StraitofHormuz #Iran #PeaceandConflictStudies