 Just a short introduction of myself. My name is Uro Szyduszczyk. I was a correspondent from United States for 14 years. The last decade I spent as a correspondent from China, I have PhD in political sciences. I published several books, a special history, first world war, and so I would like now to speak a little bit about censorship and freedom in Europe and the whole world in order to be short and precise how we read it in that speech in Slovenia. Killing Messengers of Bad News was an ancient practice that has survived to this day. This fact is also confirmed by the difficult fate of the Australian journalist Julian Assange, who may be extradited to the United States for revealing secret US diplomatic dispatchers about US military operations abroad and related crimes. Assange, whose basic rights were violated in the court proceedings, such as the rule of confidentiality between the accused and his lawyers, should have been released from prison a long time ago. US judicial authorities demanding his extradition intend to try him under the Espionage Act of 1917 by which President Woodrow Wilson tried to silence, among other things, internal opposition to the US military involvement in World War I. The said law in its original form provided for up to 20 years in prison for this type of activity. But according to the latest version, Assange can be sentenced for up to 175 years. The law was passed in 1917 when the US entered World War I, but today, at least officially, they are not at war. Although in the most powerful country in the Western world, there is a lot of talk about war, for example, about the Second Cold War, which can turn into a hot war. In the defense of the world's leading hegemonic role, the United States is becoming increasingly militarized, as is evidenced by the record military budget, which is larger than the military budgets of the next 11 countries. The brutal Russian aggression on Ukraine has turned into a proxy war aimed at bringing Russia to its knees and changing its regime. The ultimate goal of this policy is undoubtedly to subdue the Autocratic People's Republic of China as well. Accordingly, the spectrum of civil rights in Western countries is also slowly declining. Until now, censorship has been a trademark of autocratic regimes. With the recent establishment of the Disinformation Governments Board in Washington and the ban on broadcasting of Russian programs in Europe, the EU and the US have also joined this infamous group. Clearly, Brussels does not trust the prudence of the Union's citizens, who have the right to be informed of Russia's views firsthand, even if it is propaganda. Without taking Russia's security interests into account, Europe will not be stable, and peace will continue to be threatened. The introduction of censorship is therefore very detrimental to all European citizens. Italian colleagues, for example, report that the media situation is bleak. The show, Carta Bianca, on Italian radio and television rye, was canceled because it was not in line with the official policy toward the Ukrainian crisis. One American journalist lucidly stated that this was like a, quote, intellectual no fly zone, especially since many journalists resort to self-censorship. The famous dictum from Voltaire, quote, I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it, has become in Europe, which aspires to champion human rights, clearly controversial. Despite the very probable disagreement with the claims of the Russian regime about Ukraine, the ban on their broadcasting and the potential abolition of pluralism in the media field threatens democracy. Such measures are allowed only in time of war, jamming of foreign programs was the domain of communist repressive regimes during the Cold War, apparently not anymore. We're also witnessing these tendencies in our country, Slovenia. The right-wing coalition, which suffered a severe defeat in the recent parliamentary elections, has, for example, unilaterally taken control of public broadcasting, especially the news. And it has canceled the most popular show, Studio City. This year, Slovenia fell by as many as 18 places on the index of media freedom, prepared by journalists without borders. The future will be difficult on a global scale. International morals and ethics have suffered a blow even in the most democratic countries. And Russian military aggression against Ukraine threatens a general war. Since the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, the world has never been so threatened and on the brink of nuclear war as it is today. The thought of the great British philosopher and pacifist Bertrand Russell that we will put an end to the human race if humanity does not give up the war needs our urgent attention. But constant wars have, unfortunately, become a part of our lives. Assange's fate will show where Western democracies are heading. Let me end with the information that the center left Slovenian political parties, which will form the new government, have, at the request of the Slovenian Pen Center, publicly committed themselves to offering Julian Assange political asylum.