Last weekend, North Korea tested a new type of ballistic rockets perfectly capable of carrying a nuclear warhead to the United States mainland. These new additions are considerably more powerful and efficient than anything else North Korea wielded until now, transforming the country from an irritable pestering presence to one of our biggest nuclear threats.

Jubilant at the sight of the test’s results, Kim Jong-un was obiously sending an international message. It’s North Korea’s way of finally exposing its teeth, showing that sometimes, a barking dog does indeed bite.

Pyongyang Has Threatened Its Enemies for Decades

This is not the first time a North Korean leader threatened one of its enemies. As his predecessor, Kim Jong-un desires to erase Seoul from the face of the Earth. Now, if the propaganda is real – and chances are this is not another exaggerated lie – North Korea could finally constitute a very real and very big nuclear threat for both South Korea and all its allies.

Coupled with Sunday’s successful trials, North Korea’s incessant efforts to become a nuclear power have made the country a top priority in President’s Trump foreign policy to-do list. Although the POTUS has expressed his intentions of meeting with the country’s dictator, other, even more pressing matters, stopped him from going through with this promise. In the meantime, Kim Jong-un declared:

“the most perfect weapon systems in the world will never become the eternal exclusive property of the U.S.”

This loosely translates into “the United States should choose its enemies with more care.” It could also be a hint at North Korea’s nuclear capabilities. Alas, it could also be a giant bluff.

Is This a Message to Moon Jae-in?

Some think Kim Jong-un is trying to send a not-so-discrete message to South Korea’s new president, Moon Jae-in. The freshly-instated liberal has declared numerous times he is planning on sitting down with Kim Jong-un to try and reach an agreement. Such a display of forces can efficiently silence any peace talks.

On the other hand, Europe, Japan, and the United States have been gathering an impressive fleet in the Pacific Ocean, so the missile test could have been the North Korean dictator’s way of saying “I’m not as defenseless as you think.”

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Roskomnadzor, Russia’s communication regulator recently began enforcing a LinkedIn ban all across the country because the network did not manage to transfer all Russian user data on national servers. The problem is that Russian law states that all online platforms that collect personal data must store it on servers from within the country, all companies who fail do so being banned.

LinkeIn officially confirmed the ban in a recent statement, declaring that the social media platform will continue to negotiate with Roskomnadzor. At the moment, the website has millions of Russian users and thousands of small company accounts.

The platform is currently undergoing changes as Microsoft acquired it for $26.2 billion, the merger coming with additional regulatory problems. LinkedIn representatives attempted to meet with Russian representatives on November 11^th, but their efforts were in vain as the IPS block is already in place.

Moreover, according to the official statement, LinkedIn did not even get to the meeting, Roskomnadzor preferring to review the social platform’s newest proposal in private.

At the moment, it is not clear if LinkedIn is trying to gain access to a national server or if it is desperately attempting to bypass the law.

However, this is not the first country to ask LinkedIn to host their data within the country. China’s law is similar to that of Russia, stopping online websites from storing sensitive data on international servers. In order to meet the country’s demands, LinkedIn built a different website.

According to Russian sources, LinkedIn is not the only website that is storing Russian data outside the country. An assortment of other international websites are available in the country, the government not doing anything to ban their activity.

The reasons why they chose to attack LinkedIn may be connected to the fact that the website, which currently hosts 5 million Russian users, was a token ban.

Russia blocked LinkedIn as a warning for other major social media players like Twitter and Facebook.

Google, Apple, and Evernote are among the companies who complied with the country’s regulations without much ado.

LinkedIn representatives will continue to try to speak with Roskomnadzor in an attempt to remove the ban. We will keep you posted on the outcomes.

Image source: Wikipedia