Toni Selkälä
LightNews LightNews
tselkl.bsky.social
Toni Selkälä
@tselkl.bsky.social
380 followers 870 following 1.2K posts
Post-doc at University of Turku, Finland. International law, technology, and drama. A coffee-infused cyclist.
Posts Replies Media Videos
tselkl.bsky.social
I spent today inordinate amount of time seeking to verify the claim that Huygens was first to design governor on 17th century. The "fact" is repeated everywhere. The supposed source for that fact never mentions anything about it, but as it appears on Wikipedia it is in all AI models as well.
February 16, 2026 at 8:45 PM
Reposted by Toni Selkälä
colincarlson.bsky.social
This is my favorite thing I've worked on in a very, very long time, and it's also the first real product out of our project studying the Pandemic Agreement negotiations over the last four years. Nothing would make me happier than if you read and share. ❤️🔓👉 papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Expert engagement and evidence use in treaty negotiations 24 Pages Posted: Anna Bezruki affiliation not provided to SSRN Chloe Batie Yale University Colin Carlson Yale University Date Written: February 10, 2026 Abstract Science-and evidence-based decision-making are core values in global health, but in multilateral processes, they often take a backseat to politics. The Pandemic Agreement requires Parties to use "the best available science and evidence as the basis for public health decisions for pandemic prevention, preparedness and response," but is the treaty itself evidence-based? In this chapter, we trace how scientific and technical evidence were introduced into the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body. External experts were a key source of advice, especially on legal issues, but they were mostly excluded from the negotiations. Over time, Member States began to treat Relevant Stakeholders as a secondary source of technical expertise, introducing potential conflicts of interest into the process. In the end, scientists and stakeholders successfully leveraged scientific authority to facilitate the incorporation of One Health approach to pandemic prevention (Articles 4 and 5)-but otherwise, the treaty was shaped more by politics and pragmatism than by science. Moving forward, the Conference of Parties will be an opportunity for Member States to establish formal channels for scientific evidence synthesis and engagement-or to preserve a status quo that falls substantially behind evidence-based global governance in other areas. Keywords: Citation networks, evidence-based policy, One Health, Pandemic Agreement, scientometrics, World Health Organization
February 12, 2026 at 10:06 PM
tselkl.bsky.social
There are two kinds of clergy. There are those who become dutiful servants of the powers-that-be, and then there are those who hold on to their beliefs. The latter ones are hated by all autocrats, especially those autocrats who seek to protect traditional Christian values.
szabolcspanyi.bsky.social Szabolcs Panyi @szabolcspanyi.bsky.social · 8d
💥While posing as a “defender of Christianity,” Viktor Orbán’s government is persecuting pastor Gábor Iványi, who leads Hungary’s Methodist church caring for the homeless, poor, and special-needs kids. Iványi once baptized Orbán's daughter–now calls his policies “fascist”: www.hrw.org/news/2025/11...
February 11, 2026 at 12:25 PM
tselkl.bsky.social
At times (most of the time, actually), I feel like my work is but a bad and disorganised glossary of earlier scholarship. Hans Jonas's Critique of Cybernetics says all I've to say in two paragraphs with much greater clarity. In either case, I think this what Jonas says is a bit of a problem with AI.
A screenshot from Hans Jonas's text Critique of Cybernetics. The snippet show reads: "That the common principles involved in these different devices and the problems posed by them require a unified theory, and that this theory is of sufficient autonomy and range to deserve the name of a new science, was a matter for the workers in the field to decide, and no quarrel can arise with their practical decision. If this were all the status claimed by cybernetics, the philosopher would not have to engage in a critique of it. But cybernetics is not as innocent as that. There is a strong and, it seems, almost irresistible tendency in the human mind to interpret human functions in terms of the artifacts that take their place, and artifacts in terms of the replaced human functions. The power engine, with its levers and joints and its voracious fuel consumption, was a slaving giant, and, correspondingly, the human or animal body was a fuel-burning power machine. The modern servo-mechanism is described as perceptive, responsive, adaptive, purposive, retentive, learning, decision-making, intelligent, and sometimes even emotional (but this last only if something goes wrong!), and, correspondingly, men and human societies are being conceived of and explained as feedback mechanisms, communication systems, and computing machines. The use of an intentionally ambiguous and metaphorical terminology facilitates this transfer back and forth between the artifact and its maker. In former days, dealing in such analogies was left mainly to the imaginative writer, and certainly had no part in the terms of reference of the scientist as such, but this sort of transference is precisely what cybernetics is concerned with, and on this account it is subject to philosophical criticism. The literature, which fortunately is not yet too bulky, already abounds with cybernetical explanations of human behavior, processes of thought, and cultural organisms."
February 11, 2026 at 11:49 AM
tselkl.bsky.social
Olen viime aikoina lukenut lapsille heidän pyynnöstään Soturikissoja ja nyt Pandojen valtakuntaa. En ymmärrä, mikä näissä lapsia viehättää. Ne ovat kliseisiä fantasiatarinoita, joita venytetään tarpeetta täysin turhalla ja usein typärällä kuvailulla, joka ei palvele mitään tarkoitusta.
February 9, 2026 at 7:29 PM
tselkl.bsky.social
Bussissa kaikki paikat täynnä. Vieressä mummo, joka kovaan ääneen valitti juuri nuorisoa pitää jalkojaan penkillä, ettei kukaan vain istuisi viereen. Tällaisestä pitäisi leikata heti puolet eläkkeestä. Seuraavasta antisosiaalisesta käytöksestä johonkin mummojen kasvatuslaitokseen.
February 9, 2026 at 1:57 PM
tselkl.bsky.social
"‘Constituent’ is the term that carries the animus of democracy into the distinction." I honestly don't know which meaning of animus is now being carried into what distinction. This is what they politely call crock of shit, or, alternatively, insightful critical theory.
A screenshot with definition of animus, listing the following four options: " animus /ˈanɪməs/ noun noun: animus 1. hostility or ill feeling. "the author's animus towards her" 2. motivation to do something. "the reformist animus came from within the Party" 3. PSYCHOANALYSIS (in Jungian psychology) the masculine part of a woman's personality. 4. HISTORICAL•PHILOSOPHY the rational mind."
February 5, 2026 at 2:18 PM
tselkl.bsky.social
Tämä on tosiaan mielenkiintoinen yleiseurooppalainen kehitys, joka koskee salattujen viestien hyödytämisestä näyttönä. Kansallisesti KKO:2023:14 taitaa olla viimeisin, mutta siinä asia ohitetaan vain toteamalla, että kaikilla oli samat viestit käytössään.
www.computerweekly.com/opinion/The-...
The European offensive against encrypted phone evidence | Computer Weekly
Over the past four years, I have handled numerous international cases involving SkyECC, Ennetcom, EncroChat, and other PGP- or crypto-phone networks. These networks were designed to guarantee privacy ...
www.computerweekly.com
February 5, 2026 at 10:45 AM
tselkl.bsky.social
At times, when reading legal theory, I feel like I am an alien.

Instead of writing 'law is political', in theory book is written 'the predication "political" imports a particular reflexivity, which critical phenomenology is deployed to sustain.'
February 5, 2026 at 9:22 AM
tselkl.bsky.social
It is true that digital sovereignty is mostly an empty soundbite. At the same time, I am somewhat reluctant to the idea where we place all AI into one folder and say that it is bad. There are many examples of functional, useful, and good AI. They just are not as flashy as what we read on media.
danmcquillan.bsky.social Dan McQuillan @danmcquillan.bsky.social · 15d
Switching from Big Tech to Brit Tech just puts the toxic cocktail of AI in the hands of local oligarchs. AI sovereignty is a solutionist narrative that hides the structural splits in our social & technical arrangements. Resist AI, refuse authoritarianism, reclaim the common good.
February 4, 2026 at 7:16 AM
tselkl.bsky.social
It's been this for years without real repercussions for Russia's continued and cynical violation of norms of international law. It tells how little of the peace and security aspect of the UN order remains.

International law is not dying, just those parts of it meant to uphold peace and humanity.
strategywoman.bsky.social Yaroslava @strategywoman.bsky.social · 16d
It’s very loud in Kyiv.
russia is attacking us with ballistic missiles.

Let the world know.
February 3, 2026 at 11:12 AM
tselkl.bsky.social
Tämän päivän uutisista muistui mieleen Giovanna Procaccin artikkeli Sociology and Its Poor vuoden 1848 Ranskan vallankumouksen syistä. Yhtenä niistä hän mainitsee ajatuksen, jonka mukaan "any kind of assistance other than labor would lead to moral degradation in a cycle of charity-idleness."
January 30, 2026 at 11:26 AM
tselkl.bsky.social
Let’s just say that this is a curious choice by a country 12% of whose GDP is made of remittances. Who dares to send money back to their family anymore from Europe/U.S. when it can land you in jail any time.
marikamikiashvili.bsky.social Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 @marikamikiashvili.bsky.social · 21d
Basically, a family member providing you with basic survival money or even goods such as buying you a telephone if you do anything deemed remotely political can end up in jail for years — under the Georgian Dream’s latest law.

#TerrorinGeorgia #GeorgiaProtests
January 28, 2026 at 8:25 PM
tselkl.bsky.social
Minun mielestäni meidän oikeustieteilijöiden tulisi kyetä aika paljon parempaan analyysiin kuin mitä Jukka Kekkonen tässä tarjoilee. Tämä on vain huonoa, laiskaa ja kaikin tavoin pinnallista. Myös hieman pidempää perspektiiviä odottaisin oikeushistorioitsijalta. Aika surkeaa.
yle.fi/a/74-20206813
Emeritusprofessori: Yhdysvalloissa on meneillään vallankaappaus
Asiantuntijat arvioivat Politiikkaradiossa Yhdysvaltain demokratian tilaa ja vertaavat ICE-agentteja natsi-Saksan SA-joukkoihin.
yle.fi
January 28, 2026 at 8:18 AM
tselkl.bsky.social
Lapsi itkee koulun pihalla, kun ei pääse sisälle. Koulun kanslia sanoo, ettei voi auttaa. Sellaista huolehtimista taas tänään noilta kasvatuksen maailmanmestareilta Turussa.
January 28, 2026 at 7:19 AM
Reposted by Toni Selkälä
marylawlorhrds.bsky.social
📣 Call for applications: 2026 Sakharov Fellowship Programme for Human Rights Defenders

The @europarl.europa.eu offers 14 non-EU HRDs a 2-week training on EU policies & mechanisms, with insights into the EU’s human rights work.

🗓️ Deadline to apply: 15 Feb 2026
www.europarl.europa.eu/sakharovpriz...
Supporting defenders | Fellowship | Sakharov Prize | European Parliament
Unlike the Sakharov Prize, the Sakharov Fellowship is not an award for achievements in the field of human rights. It aims at developing capacities of human rights defenders to advocate for and effect positive change to human rights.
www.europarl.europa.eu
January 27, 2026 at 12:13 PM
tselkl.bsky.social
For all those surprised by the happy alignment of tech bros with Trumpism I give you Paulina Borsook from 2000:
A shaky handheld picture of the page 58 of Borsook’s book Cyberselfish. The text doesn’t sadly fit into the limits here, but it outlines how technology elite has since time immemorial (here the mid-1990s) been close to conservative causes and people. Using the example of George Gilder, the page shows the disregard technologists have had for everyone not fitting their mould of success (here, homeless people). Borsook finishes off by a pithy statement: “Nah, it’s too much regulation that’s to blame for making these parasites.”
January 27, 2026 at 10:11 AM
tselkl.bsky.social
Balakrishnan Rajagopal repeats his call for an international law from below @verfassungsblog.de. There are many praiseworthy features in professor Rajagopal's argument, but I fail to see how it could lead to international law.
verfassungsblog.de/internationa...
International Law in, and as, Crisis
verfassungsblog.de
January 26, 2026 at 8:04 AM
tselkl.bsky.social
Georgian Young Lawyers' Association (GYLA) published a press release on Friday that the Strasbourg Court has communicated Georgian election case to the Georgian authorities with a deadline to replies in mid-May.
gyla.ge/post/strasbu...
Სტრასბურგის სასამართლომ 2024 წლის საპარლამენტო არჩევნებთან დაკავშირებით წარდგენილი საჩივრების განხილვა დაიწყო
სტრასბურგის სასამართლომ 2024 წლის საპარლამენტო არჩევნებთან დაკავშირებით წარდგენილი საჩივრების განხილვა დაიწყო. სასამართლოს თქმით, მოცემ
gyla.ge
January 25, 2026 at 12:39 PM
tselkl.bsky.social
Helppo yhtyä tähän analyysiin. Hyviä vaihtoehtoja on vähän ja se on hyvä sanoa ääneen. Valitaan huonoista se, jonka kanssa voi rakentaa paremman huomisen olisi oma valintani.
rikefranke.bsky.social Ulrike Franke @rikefranke.bsky.social · 27d
This is an important point in my view: with regard to the US pressure, we are in a situation in which our options are all pretty bad. That’s the consequence of decades of close cooperation - any efforts to decouple and/or use existing links to apply pressure also hurt us. We still may have to do so.
January 23, 2026 at 7:05 AM
tselkl.bsky.social
Tällaisia julkaisuja alkaa olla melko paljon kansainvälisen oikeuden saralla ja niiden määrä on ollut lisääntymään päin. Kansainvälinen oikeus tuskin tulevaisuudessakaan mihinkään katoaa, mutta ehkä tämä tosiaan on erään aikakauden (tilin)päätös.
heikekrieger.bsky.social Heike Krieger @heikekrieger.bsky.social · 27d
Gemeinsam mit Helmut Aust und Claus Kreß haben wir unsere Überlegungen zu den Folgen der US Außenpolitik für den Umgang mit dem Völkerrecht in der heutigen FAZ veröffentlicht.
January 22, 2026 at 7:47 AM
tselkl.bsky.social
Another day and yet another news of a Georgia-based company used to circumvent Russian sanctions. This time around it is spare parts to Russian shadow fleet, using a Georgian shell company to conceal owners and beneficiaries of this latest illegality.
yle.fi/a/74-20193087
Yle paljastaa Wärtsilän osien salaiset kuljetukset Venäjälle – Yhtiö: Emme halua tätä
Putin hankkii Wärtsilän varaosia laivoihinsa keplottelemalla. Wärtsilä sanoo yrittävänsä estää sen.
yle.fi
January 21, 2026 at 10:27 AM
tselkl.bsky.social
The Board of Peace is an interesting international organisation led by a chairman with power to nominate everyone, veto every decision, and kick out those members he does not like. He may also dissolve the organisation at any point either through act or omission.

Sir Travers Twiss would be proud.
January 20, 2026 at 8:23 AM
tselkl.bsky.social
I am occasionally obscure, but this is something else: "The ICJ saw no basis for the proposition that a rule lacking the status of jus cogens may not be applied..."

Can someone help me what this sentence is supposed to mean? #internationallaw #help
January 17, 2026 at 3:10 PM
tselkl.bsky.social
It's wild reading popular science best-sellers from the early 1990s. Michael Rothschild's Bionomics is no exception. First paragraph tells us that capitalism "is the way human society organizes itself for survival in a world of limited resources."
January 16, 2026 at 1:11 PM