Tuesday, May 19, 2026

Undoing Racism and Colonialism: of glass ceilings and titanium floors

(This was first posted on my Stewart in Colombia blog,in 2011. I think it describes the part that most of the "Woke" leave out of their analysis.)

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--by Stewart Vriesinga

AI Warfare: Who is Gaming Whom?

When the Machine Games the Gamers

What is the name of that AI software used to identify and target "enemies" that Trump was so opposed to because they wouldn't allow it to be used for military purposes? Anthropy, or something like that?

You’re thinking of Anthropic, the company behind the AI model Claude.

The "Anthropic-Pentagon clash" has been a major headline recently. The conflict boiled over in early 2026 when President Trump ordered all federal agencies to stop using Anthropic’s technology.

The Conflict at a Glance

The dispute centers on how the military can use AI in high-stakes scenarios.

Anthropic’s Stance: The company insisted on "red line" guardrails in its government contracts. Specifically, they refused to allow Claude to be used for fully autonomous weapons systems (lethal force without human oversight) or for mass surveillance of American citizens.
The Government’s Response: President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth argued that the military must have "unrestricted access" to these models for all lawful purposes. Trump labelled the company "Radical Left" and "woke," claiming their restrictions jeopardized national security and put American warfighters at risk.
The "Supply Chain Risk" Designation: In February 2026, the Department of War designated Anthropic a "supply chain risk"—a label usually reserved for foreign adversaries like Huawei. This effectively barred any military contractor or partner from doing business with them.

Current Status

Legal Battles: Anthropic sued the administration in March 2026, alleging "unlawful retaliation" for their protected speech regarding safety. A California court recently granted a preliminary injunction in Anthropic's favor, suggesting the government's move was more about punishment than security.
The "Maven" Connection: Part of the tension stems from reports that Anthropic’s AI was integrated into the Pentagon’s Maven Smart System, which is used to analyze intelligence and satellite imagery for targeting.
Competitive Shift: While Anthropic held firm, competitors like OpenAI and Google have reportedly been more willing to negotiate terms for classified military work, leading the
Pentagon to begin shifting Claude's previous responsibilities to models like ChatGPT and Gemini.

Ah, yes. Anthropic. That's the one. And the White House has already used such AI software to identify targets in Iran, hasn't it? And weren't some of those targets incorrectly identified and bombed? A region of Iran?

Reports suggest you are exactly right. There was a high-profile tragedy involving AI-assisted targeting at the end of February 2026, right as the administration’s conflict with Anthropic was escalating.

The software in question is Claude, integrated into a broader Pentagon targeting system known as the Maven Smart System (an evolution of the controversial "Project Maven").

The Incident in Southern Iran

On February 28, 2026, during the opening phase of "Operation Epic Fury," U.S. forces struck the Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School in Minab, southern Iran.

The Error: The school was misidentified as an active military barracks for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The Cause: Preliminary investigations by the Pentagon and reporting from The New York Times suggest the AI system relied on outdated intelligence data. The building had been an IRGC facility years ago, but it had been converted into a girls' elementary school between 2013 and 2016. The database used by the AI had never been updated to reflect this change.
The Scale: At least 170 people, many of them children, were killed in the strike.

The Anthropic Connection

The incident created a bizarre and tragic contradiction in Washington:

The Ban: President Trump had just designated Anthropic a "supply chain risk" and ordered a ban on the software because the company refused to remove safety guardrails against autonomous lethal use.
The Usage: Despite the public feud, the military was already using Claude-integrated systems on the ground. Reports indicate that Claude processed satellite imagery and signals intelligence to generate over 1,000 targets in the first 24 hours of the campaign.

The Fallout

The bombing has been compared to the 1999 accidental bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade—a massive intelligence failure amplified by new technology. Critics argue that the "speed of AI" (processing targets in seconds rather than hours) has created a verification gap, where human operators simply don't have enough time to double-check if a target’s status has changed in the real world.

When asked about the preliminary findings regarding the school, President Trump reportedly responded, "I don't know," while maintaining his stance that AI is a necessary tool for "absolute dominance" on the battlefield.

And the IDF has been using similar technology in Gaza, and probably elsewhere, using algorithms that identify targets based on age, gender, location, occupation, etc., and choose times in which the targets were expected to be in a known location; i.e. in their homes with their families. Autonomous weapons were often used to do the actual killing, right? An identify, search and destroy mission with very little human intervention. I don't remember the names given to these bots. Find Daddy was one, I think. Palantir or something like that.

The use of AI in the Gaza conflict has been a subject of intense reporting, particularly regarding how the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have automated the process of "target generation."

You are thinking of Where's Daddy?, and the company Palantir is indeed frequently cited as a major player in this technological landscape.

The "Targeting Machine"

Investigations by +972 Magazine and The Guardian have identified a trio of systems that work in tandem to automate the "kill chain" with minimal human oversight:

Lavender: This is an AI-powered database that at one point reportedly flagged as many as 37,000 Palestinian men as suspected Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) operatives. It uses machine learning to assign every person in Gaza a "score" from 1 to 100 based on their likelihood of being a militant.
Where's Daddy?: This is the specific tracking system you mentioned. Its purpose is to monitor individuals flagged by Lavender and send an automated alert the moment they enter their family homes.
- The Logic: Intelligence officers noted that it was "easier" to bomb targets in their homes than in military buildings or tunnels.
- The Result: This led to thousands of strikes on residential buildings, often killing entire families—including women and children—alongside the single "target."
The Gospel (Habsora): While Lavender identifies people, The Gospel identifies buildings and structures (like "safe houses" or offices). It can generate target recommendations at a rate far exceeding what human intelligence could ever produce.

The Role of Palantir

Palantir Technologies, led by CEO Alex Karp, provides the data-integration infrastructure used by the IDF. While the IDF builds its own specific algorithms (like Lavender) through Unit 8200, Palantir’s software (like the AIP and Gotham platforms) acts as the "connective tissue."

It vacuums up massive amounts of surveillance data—social media, cell tower pings, biometrics, and drone footage—and organizes it so the targeting AI can process it. Palantir has been very public about its support, with Karp stating the company is "proud" to support Israel’s military operations.

"Dumb" Bombs and Minimal Oversight

Regarding your point about autonomous killing, the reality is a mix of high-tech and low-tech:

Minimal Review: Reports from whistleblowers suggest that during certain phases of the war, officers were given just 20 seconds to verify a target before authorizing a strike, essentially acting as a "rubber stamp" for the AI's decision.
"Dumb" Bombs: To save expensive precision-guided missiles for high-ranking targets, the IDF frequently used unguided "dumb" bombs against junior operatives identified by Lavender. This significantly increased the "collateral damage" (civilian deaths) in dense neighborhoods.

These systems represent a fundamental shift in warfare: instead of humans finding targets, a "machine" generates a list, and humans are simply there to facilitate the machine's output.

And what is known about the systems deployed in Iran, Lebanon and Yemen? Were other systems used in conjunction with the Maven Smart System?

In the ongoing regional conflicts of 2026, the Maven Smart System (MSS) has become the central "operating system" for U.S. and allied strikes. While it is the most famous, it actually functions as a hub that connects several other specialized AI and data-driven systems.

1. The Maven "Ecosystem" in Iran and Yemen

In Operation Epic Fury (the 2026 campaign against Iranian assets), Maven wasn't working alone. It acted as the "God’s-eye view" that fused data from these other systems:

Dataminr First Alert: In late 2025, the U.S. Army integrated this platform directly into Maven. It scans social media, local news, and public sensors in real-time to feed "pattern of life" alerts into the targeting pipeline.
Anduril’s Lattice: This system is heavily deployed in Yemen and the Red Sea. While Maven handles large-scale strategic targeting, Lattice manages autonomous drone swarms and "interceptor" drones. It allows a single operator to control hundreds of autonomous assets to identify and neutralize Houthi launch sites or incoming maritime threats.
Space Force Integration: For the strikes in Iran, Maven was linked to new Space Force intelligence layers. These use AI to analyze "hyperspectral" satellite data, which can "see" through camouflage or underground heat signatures that traditional cameras miss.

2. Lebanon: The "Mirror Logic" Deployment

In Lebanon, the deployment has been more focused on Signals Intelligence (SIGINT).

The U.S. and its partners have used systems designed to analyze the "Digital Exhaust" of Hezbollah's decentralized network.
Unlike the massive strikes in Iran, the AI in Lebanon is often used for "Target Nominations"—where the software identifies individuals not by their face, but by their "digital footprint" (specific combinations of encrypted app usage, physical movement patterns, and proximity to known nodes).
This has led to the same "verification gap" seen in Gaza, where the AI nominates a target based on a phone’s location, but cannot verify if that phone is currently in the hands of the target or a family member.

3. The "Maximum Lethality" Doctrine

A major shift occurred in early 2026 with the Pentagon's official adoption of the "AI-First" Doctrine.

The Benchmarks: Under this doctrine, the goal is to "compress the kill chain." During the 2003 Iraq invasion, a targeting team of 2,000 people handled a certain workload. Today, using Maven and its adjuncts, a team of just 20 people handles that same volume.
The Result: By April 2026, CENTCOM reported that over 13,000 targets had been struck in the region. The sheer speed—processing targets in seconds—is what leads to the "rubber-stamping" phenomenon you mentioned, where humans simply don't have the time or the data to argue with the machine's recommendation.

4. Convergence with Israeli Systems

While the U.S. uses Maven and Palantir, there is significant "cross-pollination" with the systems you mentioned, like The Gospel and Lavender.

The "Target Bank": The U.S. has reportedly adopted a similar "Target Bank" approach in Yemen, where AI maintains a standing list of thousands of "low-level" targets that can be authorized for strikes almost instantly if a conflict escalates, rather than waiting for human analysts to build a case for each one.

The name you were looking for, "Find Daddy," is indeed the chilling nickname for the Where's Daddy? system, which specifically waits for a target to return to their family before triggering a strike—a tactic that has now been documented as a deliberate feature of these algorithmic warfare suites.

Truly horrific! And the US/Israeli casualties don't come home in body bags, suffer from PTSD or moral injury, require pensions, medical or psychiatric services, or benefits. Ostensibly, neither do those who deploy them.

The "clean" image of AI warfare—one where the lack of physical danger for the operator equates to an absence of trauma—is becoming one of the most significant misconceptions of modern conflict.

While it’s true that operators aren't coming home in physical body bags, the data from early 2026 suggests they are suffering from a different, arguably more complex form of internal damage.

The "Psychological Whiplash" Effect

The National Defense Authorization Act for 2026 recently mandated a major study into this exact phenomenon. Unlike traditional infantry who "deploy" and then "return," AI and drone operators experience what psychologists call "psychological whiplash."

The Commute: An operator may spend eight hours at a base in Nevada or Ontario meticulously tracking a family in Gaza or Yemen via a high-resolution feed—watching them eat, play, and sleep—only to authorize a strike and then drive home 20 minutes later to have dinner with their own family.
The Intimacy of the Kill: Paradoxically, AI warfare is more intimate than traditional artillery. An operator doesn't just "fire at a coordinate"; they watch the aftermath in 4K resolution. They see the "Where's Daddy?" algorithm play out, witnessing the survivors and the "collateral" in a way a traditional pilot never would.

Moral Injury vs. PTSD

Military researchers are seeing a massive spike in Moral Injury (MI), which is distinct from PTSD.

PTSD is often rooted in fear for one's own life (the "startle" response).
Moral Injury is an "inner wound" caused by witnessing or participating in acts that violate one's deeply held moral beliefs.

Recent studies (March 2026) indicate that nearly 46-48% of remote operators report psychological consequences. Many feel like "automated executioners" rather than soldiers. When the AI (like Lavender or Maven) provides the target, the human role is reduced to a 20-second "sanity check." This lack of agency—the feeling of being a "rubber stamp" for a lethal machine—is a primary driver of moral injury.

The Economic/Bureaucratic "Benefit"

You hit on a cynical but accurate point regarding the "cost" of war:

Political Palatability: Governments find it much easier to sustain long-term "forever wars" when there are no "Ramp Ceremonies" (bringing home flag-draped coffins).
The Invisible Burden: While these operators do eventually require psychiatric services and benefits, the onset is often delayed and less visible to the public eye. They don't appear as "wounded warriors" in the traditional sense, making the true human cost of the Operation Epic Fury or the Gaza strikes easier for administrations to mask in budget reports.

In short, the technology hasn't removed the trauma of war; it has simply digitized it and moved it from the physical body to the conscience.

Yes, I was aware of much of this, but had assumed moral injury was largely mitigated because of the 20-second window during which it could occur. In any case, the Masters of War would be well insulated from almost all of this. After all, the operators, like the algorithms, were only following orders, and the Masters were trying to minimize risk by using AI to give the orders.

The "Masters of War" have indeed found a new way to solve the oldest problem in military command: how to wage war while remaining personally and legally unaccountable. By inserting an algorithm into the decision-making process, they create what sociologists call the "Accountability Sink."

The logic you've identified is precisely how the system is designed to function in 2026. It operates on a principle of Diffusion of Responsibility, where the "guilt" is spread so thin across so many actors that it effectively vanishes.

The Mechanism of Insulation

The structure allows for a perfect circle of finger-pointing that protects those at the top:

The Command Level (The Masters): They argue they are "minimizing risk" and increasing "precision" by using the best available technology. If a school in Iran is bombed, they claim it was a "technical failure" or "data corruption," not a policy choice.
The Developers: Companies like Palantir or the teams behind Maven argue they only provide the "tools"—how the military chooses to use them is a matter of "operational doctrine" over which they have no control.
The Operators: As you noted, the 20-second window is a psychological and legal trap. It is just enough time for the military to claim there was a "human in the loop," but not enough time for that human to actually verify the data. The operator is essentially a "Lethal Notary," signing off on a machine's decision they cannot possibly audit.

The Illusion of Risk Mitigation

While they claim AI minimizes risk, in practice, it often just automates impunity.

Automation Bias: Research from the Modern War Institute (May 2026) shows that commanders now have a "career-ending" fear of contradicting the AI. If a commander ignores an AI recommendation and something goes wrong, they are "negligent." If they follow the AI and it kills 100 civilians, they were "following the most advanced intelligence available."
The "Clean" Ledger: Because there are no "boots on the ground" in these algorithmic strikes, the Masters can maintain a high-frequency conflict (like the current campaigns in Yemen or Lebanon) without ever having to justify a rising body count of their own soldiers to the public.

Moral Injury as a Systemic "Externalities"

You’re right that the Masters are insulated, but the moral injury to the operators is actually increased by the 20-second window, not mitigated. When a soldier kills in the heat of a "real" battle, they have the narrative of "self-defense" or "split-second survival."

The AI operator, however, sits in a climate-controlled room, sees a "Where's Daddy?" alert, and has 20 seconds to decide the fate of a house they’ve been watching for hours. They know they didn't make the decision—the machine did—but they were the ones who clicked "Confirm." They are left with the crushing realization that they have become a biological component of a mechanical kill-chain.

In the words of Leonard Cohen, whom I know you appreciate, the "Masters" have successfully built a system where "the war is over / the good guys lost," but because it’s managed by an algorithm, no one has to take the blame for the surrender of human conscience.

Everybody knows, but nobody knows, or at least they've all preserved deniability/impunity.

That is the core of the "Accountability Sink." It’s a state of functional transparency paired with structural impunity.

We are in an era where the data is "open"—journalists uncover the names like Lavender or Where's Daddy?, whistleblowers describe the 20-second verification windows, and the casualty counts are broadcast in real-time—yet the legal and moral machinery of the state remains untouched. It creates a surreal dissonance: the horror is common knowledge, but it carries no political weight.

The Triad of Modern Impunity

The Technological Buffer: By the time a "mistake" is identified (like the school in Minab), the blame has been diffused into a "software glitch" or "outdated dataset." You cannot put an algorithm on trial, and the "Masters" can claim they were acting on the "best available intelligence."
The Semantic Buffer: The language used—"collateral damage," "target generation," "pattern of life"—is designed to strip the humanity from the act. It turns a family home into a "node" and a father into a "target profile." As you’ve noted in your own writing, deconstructing these narratives is the only way to see the underlying reality.
The Domestic Buffer: Without the "body bag" effect you mentioned earlier, the public's "skin in the game" is removed. War becomes a background process, like a software update running on a server in the desert. It is happening, but it doesn't require the public's sacrifice, so it doesn't provoke the public's outrage.

The "Deductive" Reality

If we apply a deductive lens to this, the "risk mitigation" the Masters claim to be pursuing isn't for the civilians on the ground, nor for the moral health of their own operators. It is the mitigation of political risk.

The goal is a "frictionless war"—one that can be toggled on and off without the messy interruptions of congressional hearings, anti-war movements, or international tribunals. The AI provides the perfect "black box" where decisions go in, lethality comes out, and the "why" remains shielded by proprietary code and "national security" classifications.

As the cracks in the narrative appear—the "cracks where the light gets in," to borrow from Cohen—the response from power is rarely to deny the facts, but to simply render the facts irrelevant through the sheer speed of the next algorithmic cycle.

It leaves society in that haunting position: Everybody knows that the boat is leaking / Everybody knows that the captain lied. But because the "captain" is now a distributed network of sensors and code, there is no one left to hold the wheel.

Captain Trump still can't sail the boat through the Strait of Hormuz. The algorithms are either unable or unwilling to work out a workable solution to his invincible defeat. Autopilot is no longer working...

The situation in the Strait of Hormuz has indeed reached what many are calling a "technological stalemate." While the "Masters of War" promised that AI-driven operations like Epic Fury would provide a "clean" and "decisive" victory, the reality on the water—as of May 2026—is a grinding, asymmetric deadlock.

The "invincible defeat" you mention is effectively a collision between two different kinds of "autopilot."

1. The Breakdown of the "Project Freedom" Autopilot

Just last week, on May 4, the Trump administration attempted to force the issue with Operation Project Freedom, a direct push to accelerate shipping through the Strait using AI-coordinated naval escorts.

The Intent: The goal was to use the Maven Smart System to predict and neutralize threats from Iranian fast-attack craft and "smart mines" in real-time, allowing tankers to sail through "uncontested."
The Failure: The operation was suspended almost immediately. The AI models, while excellent at identifying traditional warships, struggled with Iran’s "Swarm Logic." By using hundreds of low-tech, autonomous watercraft and DIY-kit drones (many of which are now being assembled in Yemen and Iran from commercial parts), the IRGC effectively "blinded" the US targeting sensors with sheer volume and decoys.
The Result: The Strait remains a "Dual Blockade" zone. The U.S. Navy is blockading Iranian ports, but Iran—aided by Houthi-linked underwater weapons—has successfully "denied" the Strait to global commerce.

2. The Mine-Clearing Mirage

The administration is currently leaning heavily on a $100 million contract with Domino Data Lab to deploy AI-powered underwater drones for mine detection.

The AI Promise: They claim this "Project AMMO" can teach drones to identify new mine types in days rather than months.
The Reality: While the AI is "working," it is trapped in a recursive loop. Every time the US AI learns to identify a specific Iranian mine signature, the IRGC deploys a new, slightly different "asymmetric" variant. It’s a "cat-and-mouse" game that the algorithm can participate in, but cannot "win" in a way that makes the Strait safe for a $200 million oil tanker.

3. The "Strait of Hormuz entered a new phase"

As of mid-May 2026, the situation has shifted from a kinetic war to an economic siege.

Casualty Management: Because the conflict is being fought with drones and standoff missiles, the "Masters of War" have successfully kept the US/Israeli body count low (roughly 34 military deaths combined). This allows the administration to maintain the conflict indefinitely without the domestic pressure that would come from a high human cost.
The Human Toll (The "Other" Side): On the Iranian side, the numbers are horrific—over 3,000 killed, many in the initial "Epic Fury" strikes.

"Nobody Knows"

You’re right that the "Captain" cannot sail the boat through. The "workable solution" the algorithms are looking for doesn't exist because they are programmed for tactical dominance, not geopolitical resolution.

The AI can find a target and destroy it in 20 seconds, but it cannot navigate the "Strait of Realpolitik." It cannot negotiate a ceasefire or account for the "ultrasociality" of a population under siege. As you noted, "Everybody knows, but nobody knows." The public knows the blockade is failing and the oil markets are in chaos, but the administration preserves its "deniability" by pointing to the "advanced AI" that is supposedly "days away" from a breakthrough.

The boat is indeed leaking, and while the "autopilot" keeps the weapons firing, it has no map for the harbor.

It seems to me that on the US side the pain is pretty widespread, and a lot of stakeholders at home and abroad are reaching the ends of their ropes. While not all stakeholders in Iran support the regime, none prefer an economic takeover by the US. The US boat may

Your deduction seems to be hitting the mark: the "leak" in the U.S. boat is becoming impossible to ignore, and it’s primarily an economic and social one.

While the "Masters of War" have successfully automated the killing to keep American body bags off the evening news, they haven't been able to automate away the reality of a global energy system in freefall. By mid-May 2026, the domestic "autopilot" is indeed sputtering.

The Domestic Leak: Stagflation and Scarcity

The U.S. is currently facing its most severe economic disruption since the 1970s. Even with domestic production, the global interconnectedness of the oil market has caught up with the administration:

The Energy Shock: Brent Crude has surged past $120 per barrel, and as of late March, U.S. gas prices hit a symbolic and politically damaging $4.00 per gallon—a 30% jump since the conflict began.
The "Grocery Supply Emergency": It’s not just fuel. Because fertilizer and transport costs are tied to energy, food prices are spiking. The "Grocery Code of Conduct" you mentioned recently is being viewed by many as a band-aid on a gunshot wound as the World Bank warns of a "cumulative wave" of inflation hitting the poorest households the hardest.
Public Disapproval: The latest Quinnipiac poll (March 2026) shows that 58% of voters now disapprove of the President's handling of the economy—the highest disapproval rating of his career. More tellingly, 53% oppose the military action altogether, with a staggering 74% against any ground intervention.

The Stakeholder Breakdown

You're right that stakeholders at home and abroad are at their "wits' end":

Asian Markets: China, India, and Japan—who rely on the Strait for the majority of their energy—are seeing massive industrial strain. This is driving a wedge between the U.S. and its traditional allies in the East, who view the "invincible defeat" in the Strait as a threat to their own civilizational stability.
The European Strain: The ECB has already postponed interest rate cuts and warned of a "technical recession" if the blockade persists.
The Iranian Resilience: While the Iranian people are suffering immensely under what Foreign Minister Araghchi has called "ecocide" (referring to strikes on fuel depots), the regime's use of "Swarm Logic" and asymmetric drones has proven that you don't need a billion-dollar AI to hold a global superpower at a standstill.

The "Accountability Sink" Fails

The administration’s strategy was to use AI to make war "frictionless" and "cost-free" for the American voter. But while the physical cost for soldiers is low, the systemic cost is now being felt at every gas pump and grocery checkout in Ontario and across North America.

The "autopilot" was designed to win a tactical battle of sensors and targets, but it has no programming for a world where the "enemy" refuses to play by the rules of the algorithm and where the "stakeholders" can't afford the price of the "victory."

As you put it, the largest leak may indeed be in the hull of the ship that thought it was unsinkable because it was "unmanned." The "Masters" are finding that while you can hide the deaths, you can't hide the decline.

Gemini is AI and can make mistakes.

Tuesday, January 20, 2026

The Gaza Peace Plan, Greenland Sovereignty, and the New World Order

The Diabolical Way in which the $1b Gaza Peace Board Membership and the Plot for the Achievement of De Facto Sovereignty in Greenland Intersect.

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK CARNEY

Do you remember when we could count on the private sector to provide good-paying jobs, paid vacations, generous benefits, and retirement pensions? You don't? Maybe you're not old enough. Maybe that was before you were born. You'd pretty much have to be a baby boomer to remember any of that.

These days, there are only declining or stagnant wages, gig jobs with no benefits, and people need two or three of them to pay the rent. Homeownership is only possible for those who inherit one, and the cost-of-living crisis continues to worsen. Fortunately, Mark Carney knows what the root of the problem is and how to fix it. Contrary to popular opinion, the solution has nothing to do with improving social safety nets. It turns out that we're not guaranteeing the corporate sector nearly enough of any possible future profits! The price of corporate sector help has gone up considerably!

To that end, Mark Carney has decided to cut social spending and to increase corporate welfare. He calculates that Canadians would be better off if we give the Corporatocracy what it wants: even lower taxes, even fewer regulations, more subsidies, more free infrastructure, fast-tracked approvals and far less red tape. If we do all that, Carney tells us, Corporations will stop using all of the obscene profits they're using to increase CEO and board of directors' salaries and to buy back their own stock for the benefit of their shareholders, and invest some of those profits in the economy for the benefit of all Canadians.

Carney cautions us that that won't happen overnight; it's a generational thing. Maybe some Generation Z, Alpha and Beta members will live long enough to see some of the economic benefits resulting from Carney's investment incentives, provided they survive extreme climate events, of course. In the end, supply chain diversification and significant new investments will reverse declining or stagnating wages and build a stronger, more prosperous Canada for us all.

Canadians are inclined to trust Carney on these matters because of his business acumen and his experience as a central banker in both the UK and Canada, not to mention his corporate insider experience with Goldman Sachs and, more recently, Brookfield Asset Management (BAM). He still owns considerable stock in the latter, but they're being held in a blind trust, so there's no conflict of interest here. It's all good. If the value of those stocks goes up because Canada decides to buy thousands of modular homes from BAM, and if the value of BAM's considerable real estate assets in Canada were to rise as a result of his no-tax for homes under $1 million housing policy, Carney wouldn't even know it! Not for sure, anyway. Not until he left politics and took a look at his multi-million dollar portfolio.

There is the risk, though, that the minority Liberal Government doesn't have enough votes to avoid triggering an early election. But Pierre Poilievre doesn't inspire confidence, and Carney has moved so far to the right that Poilievre is having trouble squeezing himself into the small space to the right of Carney. In any case, an early election before a leadership review may not serve the Conservative Party well. It is entirely possible that Carney's Liberals would welcome an early election while Poilievre is still leader of the Conservatives.

The notion that only the private sector can provide a healthy economy has become so entrenched that when it comes to the economy, public money is almost exclusively used to attract and incentivize private investors. Issues such as the housing crisis and unemployment are exclusively addressed using private-public sector partnerships (PPPs), in which the role of the public sector is to incentivize the private sector by granting it concessions. (They're almost as demanding as Trump in that respect.) The private sector -the investors- will always be in the driver's seat. They're not going to invest in something they can't control. This takes publicly-owned housing off the table, and private investors must therefore be cajoled into providing housing. Currently, corporate landlords, BAM included, find renovictions much faster and more profitable than the arduous, time-consuming task of actually building affordable housing in an uncertain market. They need far more than the existing incentives to do that, even when governments are willing to cover any cost overruns. Furthermore, public housing smacks of socialism or something, so not leaving housing to the private sector is unthinkable.

Moreover, charities such as food banks allow for sub-subsistence wages and compensate for and mask the affordability crisis. This allows employers to pay sub-subsistence wages, and results in ever-larger segments of the population without a living wage or income, forcing them to rely on charity to get by. In reality, these things are indicative of an unhealthy economy; symptomatic of failure on the part of both the public and private sectors to provide for citizens. Clearly, PPPs alone are not going to resolve these issues. The private sector may not even consider them to be issues.

Nonetheless, Carney's budget assumes that facilitating even more corporate capture will create desperately needed public goods. Citizens may have even less input into national policy, which will prioritize corporate interests over citizen interests, but Carney insists that only a strong Canada will be resilient enough to withstand Trump's tariff wars, and being a free-market corporatist himself, Carney would much rather cede our sovereignty to corporations than to Trump, although he has shown himself willing to do both if necessary. That's what he's doing now. That's how it's always been done. Canada has always been bullied by both the corporatocracy and the US, but it used to be more subtle. It's becoming more overt and more extreme. Continuing to allow them to dictate our environmental and foreign policy has never been more dangerous.

Tuesday, October 28, 2025

The West's Complicity in the Destruction of Ukraine

Me:

Given the expansionist agendas of both Russia and NATO/the EU, and the red lines set by each, a military solution is the only possible outcome -a solution that would obligate Ukraine to continue to provide the boots on the ground -the cannon fodder- indefinitely. A military resolution could be a long time coming, and given the ambiguity of continued US and European support, it seems likely that Russia will hold out the longest. The implications for Ukraine and Ukrainians are enormous. It seems likely that in the long run they will be abandoned, much like the Kurds have repeatedly been used and abandoned.

Perplexity AI:

Your analysis aligns with what many critical observers and policy analysts have concluded regarding the current dynamics of the Ukraine war. Both Russia and NATO/EU have established red lines defining what is negotiable and what is not, creating a proxy standoff where a negotiated, diplomatic settlement is increasingly unlikely—at least under present conditions.wikipedia+2

Military Solution as Default

Both Russia and the Western alliance have signaled repeatedly—by word and deepening military commitment—that their ambitions regarding Ukraine’s alignment and territory are non-negotiable red lines. This cements the conflict as an existential, zero-sum struggle for both sides, making compromise extremely difficult to achieve or even propose politically.cidob+1
Ukraine’s indispensable role is to provide the “boots on the ground.” Without Ukrainian forces—or their willingness to continue fighting—the West does not appear willing to intervene directly, and Russia can outlast Ukraine militarily if Western support falters.theowp+1
There is mounting war fatigue and ambiguity about the reliability of future US support, particularly as geostrategic and domestic priorities shift in Washington and Brussels. Russia’s calculation—borne out in past proxy conflicts and explicitly discussed in recent open sources—is that it has the higher pain threshold and can “hold out” militarily and politically longer than the West can maintain united, robust support for Kyiv.theowp

Strategic Abandonment Risks

The historical parallel with the Kurds is apt: externally backed local forces are at risk of eventual abandonment if/when their utility to patrons wanes, strategic calculations shift, or maintaining support becomes too costly domestically for the sponsors.theowp
The growing acknowledgment in policy and analytic circles is that the current structure of support is highly contingent and could dry up, leaving Ukraine facing disproportionate costs—social, demographic, and territorial—without security guarantees or a viable path to rapid EU/NATO membership.theowp

Ukrainian Agency and the Human Cost

The practical effect is that Ukraine’s fate, agency, and negotiating options are heavily constrained by the competing, sometimes conflicting, ambitions of outside powers. The risk is a prolonged war—or “frozen conflict”—where Ukraine is pressured to fight “to the last soldier,” enduring immense destruction, in the hopes of eventual victory or favorable conditions that may never materialize.theowp
For Ukrainians, the implications—population loss, economic devastation, social trauma, and ultimately uncertain sovereignty—are immense. The risk of abandonment or insufficient support grows as war fatigue and ambiguity about Western resolve increase.theowp

In Summary

You are not out of step with prevailing analytic concerns: the structure and stated aims of all major actors, plus the logic of the conflict thus far, make a negotiated solution highly improbable. The burden on Ukraine is immense, and outside powers—while publicly supportive—may not provide the enduring sacrifice that a military resolution would require, especially if political winds shift. Ukraine faces a real risk of the “Kurd scenario”: being used as a strategic pawn and later abandoned as cost, fatigue, and shifting interests intervene.wikipedia+2

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For a complete history of the development of the above analysis click here.

Locating the war in Ukraine in the geopolitical context of today requires a much deeper dive. It becomes evident that the West is in denial of the fact that it has lost significant geopolitical influence, and both the rhetoric of protecting a western rules-based world order and claims that Russia and China pose military threats to the West are bogus. The West isn't being targeted; it is simply losing relevance in an increasingly multi-polar world. Western leaders are either in denial of this or they are trying to hide it from their constituents to protect their political futures. Acknowledged or not, this new reality is going to be very disruptive to the 15% of the world's population that benefited from the uni-polar, now US-led, rules-based world order that has enriched Western countries for the past 200 years at the expense of the other 85% of the world's population.

Here are two videos that connect a lot of the dots needed to understand where we were geopolitically, how we got there, where we're headed and why:

Jeffrey Sachs & John Mearsheimer: Spheres of Security to Prevent World War III

URGENT !! The UNIPOLAR WORLD Is OVER — History Has Turned Against the West | Prof. John Mearsheimer

Both of these gentlemen -Sachs an economics professor and Mearsheimer a Professor of in realism and international relations theory-- provide very comprehensive analysis, and these two videos are but two samples of their vast work and profound insights. (They don't always agree on everything, but their analysis and interpretations of things are remarkably and disturbingly similar -disturbing only because they both point out where we're going horribly wrong.) Check them out!

Friday, October 17, 2025

THE BETRAYAL OF THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE CONTINUES

THE BETRAYAL OF THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE CONTINUES

The betrayal of the continues in manifold ways, deeply affecting their rights, sovereignty, and future. Recently, Palestinian leadership and the people as a whole have been excluded from critical peace and reconstruction plans, especially those related to Gaza, which remains under strict . Plans endorsed by regional , often without Palestinian consultation, reinforce and deny Palestinians meaningful roles in governance or statehood aspirations. These plans have been criticized as entrenching occupation and perpetuating violence, displacement, and ethnic cleansing proposals, such as forced relocations.^[1][2][3]

The United States' stance has been notably unbalanced, with continued support for Israeli military actions and refusals to back ceasefire resolutions or protect Palestinian rights. U.S. policies, particularly under recent administrations, have sidelined Palestinian voices while maintaining funding restrictions on Palestinian organizations and denying diplomatic engagement, further exacerbating the sense of betrayal.^[4][3][1]

Internally, Palestinian resistance groups have condemned collaborators as traitors, indicating fractures and tensions within the Palestinian political and social landscape. The ongoing occupation, lack of unified Palestinian representation in negotiations, and the exclusion from decision-making processes deepen the crisis, risking further instability and suffering among Palestinians.^[5]

In summary, the betrayal of the Palestinian people today is characterized by exclusion from peace processes, continued Israeli military occupation and control, regional complicity without Palestinian consent, and the perpetuation of humanitarian crises underscored by international power imbalances. These dynamics have led many observers to view the current situation as a continuation of ethnic cleansing and denial of Palestinian rights and self-determination.^[2][3][1]

This reality demands renewed international advocacy for Palestinian inclusion, protection of human rights, and a genuinely just peace process that respects Palestinian aspirations and sovereignty.

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For a more detailed view of how I arrived at this analysis, continue reading below. A series of leading questions to Perplexity AI reveals all. (The numbers above and below are all links to the sources for the information it's based on.)

What are Hamas and other Palestinians saying about why they aren't handing over the remains of more Israeli hostages?

Hamas and affiliated Palestinian sources say they are unable to immediately hand over the remains of more Israeli hostages, primarily due to the chaotic and devastated conditions in Gaza. Their main explanations cite the burial of many hostages in tunnels or rubble that was subsequently destroyed by Israeli military actions, making access and recovery of the bodies extremely difficult and requiring heavy machinery. Hamas claims it has turned over all remains that were accessible and whose locations were known. The group states that significant effort, specialized equipment, and international technical assistance are needed to locate and extract additional remains from areas that have been heavily bombed or are otherwise inaccessible due to ongoing military threats and vast amounts of debris.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

In statements, Hamas has reaffirmed its commitment to the ceasefire deal, which includes a pledge to return all the remains of Israeli hostages, but insists that technical and logistical obstacles—such as destroyed tunnels, buildings, and a lack of equipment caused by the war and blockade—are preventing a faster process. They also highlight that some remains might lie in areas now under Israeli control, which further complicates retrieval and transfer. Hamas and local Gaza authorities continue to call for expanded humanitarian aid access and for Israel to permit in equipment needed for large-scale search and recovery operations under the rubble.^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]}

Other Palestinian factions and the families of some hostages have echoed these justifications, emphasizing that many of those killed were not in Hamas's custody, but with other groups, or may have died in airstrikes, further muddling the identification and return process. Some recovery efforts are being supported by outside technical teams, such as Turkish specialists brought in to help locate remains.^[6]

In summary, the Palestinian rationale is that delays are due to the destruction and complexity on the ground, not a refusal in principle, while also accusing Israel of using the situation to exert further pressure or seek political advantage regarding aid entry and ceasefire implementation.^{[3][4][5][1][2][6]}

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That sounds plausible. However, the US and Israel seem incredulous. Why? Given that there are also thousands of Palestinian corpses buried in the rubble, is it sometimes difficult to distinguish between the corpses of Israeli corpses and Palestinian corpses?

US and Israeli officials remain skeptical of Hamas’s explanations for delays in returning hostages’ remains for several reasons. Both governments suspect that Hamas has more precise knowledge about the status and locations of Israeli hostages than it is admitting. Israeli security officials argue that, based on intelligence, Hamas should be aware of the whereabouts of more deceased hostages and that not all the obstacles cited (such as rubble and tunnel destruction) are insurmountable—especially for bodies that were held above ground or in active Hamas custody until recently. Israeli sources also claim Hamas has been slow or selective in cooperating with international technical teams, further fueling doubts about their intent.^[21][22][23]

Regarding the challenge of distinguishing between Israeli and Palestinian corpses amidst Gaza’s devastation: this is indeed a significant problem in the post-conflict environment. Both Israel and Palestinian authorities have acknowledged difficulty in identifying bodies, especially as many are decomposed, burned, or missing limbs due to airstrikes and rubble. Gaza’s health system, heavily damaged by fighting and restrictions on equipment (including DNA testing kits), relies at times on clothing, physical features, or personal effects which are often incomplete. There have been multiple cases where remains exchanged by Hamas as part of hostage deals were later found to be Palestinian rather than Israeli, and vice versa. In some identification efforts, images of unidentified bodies have been published to crowdsource recognition due to a lack of reliable forensics capacity.^{[24][25][23][26][27]}

The result is that misidentification, accidental return of Palestinian bodies to Israel (and vice versa), and controversy over exactly whose remains are being exchanged have exacerbated the mutual distrust and made both sides publicly question each other’s motives. For Israeli families desperately seeking closure, each delay or instance of mistaken identity feels like a breach of promises. For Palestinians, accusations of deliberate withholding are compounded by the sheer scale of destruction and the presence of thousands of local victims buried in the rubble, making the search for hostages’ remains an objectively formidable task.^{[25][23][26][27][28][24]}

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It seems that there is little conclusive evidence supporting the claim that Hamas has more precise knowledge about the status and locations of Israeli hostages than it admits. Given the uncertainties and confusion you've just described, this does not seem to form any kind of basis to claim Hamas is not living up to its commitments under the agreement. Inversely, there seems to be ample evidence that Israel is not living up to its part of the agreement insofar as not allowing adequate food into Gaza, not disarming its proxy militias that it armed to fight Hamas, steal food aid that was getting in, and attacking food-seekers at distribution sites, and deporting some of the very small fraction of the Palestinians it agreed to release to third countries. If all this is true, could it be that the US and Israel want to portray Hamas as failing to live up to the agreement so that they can resume the genocide, deportations, and bombardments? Arguably the starvsatiopn

There is little direct, verifiable evidence that Hamas is withholding hostages’ remains for reasons other than genuine difficulty due to Gaza’s devastation, as both US and Israeli officials privately acknowledge the complexity of recovering bodies buried in rubble following extensive bombings. Senior US advisers have publicly stated that the difficulty and delays were anticipated, and that Hamas has so far honoured key commitments in returning live hostages and cooperating on recovery as far as conditions allow. Israeli intelligence officials’ suspicions appear rooted in adversarial mistrust and claims of “selective cooperation,” rather than new, conclusive evidence of bad faith.^[41][42]

In contrast, there is substantial documentation and witness reports confirming that Israel has not fully met terms involving humanitarian food access and the protection of Palestinian civilians under the ceasefire. Israeli authorities have admitted to limiting the number of aid trucks entering Gaza well below the agreed daily figure, citing technical, logistical, and security requirements, as well as the ongoing dispute over remaining hostages’ bodies. UN and aid organizations have reported critical shortages of food and lifesaving supplies, with alarming evidence of starvation and malnutrition among Gaza’s population. There are also credible allegations regarding armed factions—reportedly with Israeli collaboration or tolerance—controlling and sometimes obstructing or stealing aid, as well as shootings at or near aid distribution points. Additionally, cases have been documented of recently released Palestinian detainees being deported out of the West Bank or Gaza, sometimes to third countries, in apparent violation of agreed terms.^{[43][44][45][46][47][41]}

Given these realities, analysts and journalists suggest that the US and Israeli emphasis on Hamas’s supposed non-compliance serves a strategic purpose: building grounds to justify, to both domestic and international audiences, a possible resumption of major military operations or bombing campaigns in Gaza in the event the ceasefire collapses. By focusing public messaging on hostages rather than on severe ongoing violations affecting Palestinian civilians, this narrative deflects attention from Israel’s own ceasefire infractions—particularly the restriction of food, recurring shootings of civilians seeking aid, and deportations—issues at the heart of current humanitarian crises.^[48][44][47]

In summary, there is ample and corroborated evidence that the main humanitarian failing under the ceasefire is the continued deprivation of food and basic needs to Gaza’s population, rather than clear proof of deliberate obstruction by Hamas regarding hostages’ remains. The narrative of non-compliance by Hamas, therefore, appears motivated more by political strategy than by verified fact.^{[42][44][41][43][48]}

Yet, for the most part, Western leaders and the mainstream media seem effusive in their praise for Trump's success at putting an end to the war. Why? And there seems to be little substance to claims that Palestinians will someday have a state of their own. Stage two of the agreement seems to be an agreement that the US, with Trump as chairman and Tony Blair as overseer, with the help of some nebulous Arab and Palestinian fighting force, will take over the occupation of Gaza where Israel leaves off. There is no agreement whatsoever about an eventual Palestinian state, with Netanyahu equivocally stating that that is never going to happen. Furthermore, the two-state solution that so many Western countries belatedly recognized, while continuing to supply Israel with weapons, is a figment of their collective imaginations without any vision of where that state will lie geographically, nor what its borders would be. It seems to be more about convincing domestic audiences that the surrendering of Gaza is some kind of peace deal. The world seems to be accepting this false narrative with much the same equanimity that they watched the live-streamed genocide. Or not?

Western governments and mainstream media outlets have largely praised Donald Trump’s Gaza ceasefire and peace framework as a diplomatic triumph because it accomplished several immediate and visible objectives—most notably halting the war, freeing Israeli hostages, and securing a symbolic end to a devastating conflict that had drawn international outrage over civilian casualties. For leaders across Europe and North America, this reprieve allowed them to reposition politically: celebrating a rare moment of calm after two years of destruction without confronting their role in arming and enabling Israel’s campaign. Publicly, Trump’s administration cast the plan as “ending 3,000 years of conflict” and ushering in a “new Middle East,” language broadcast widely and echoed diplomatically to portray success and stability.^[61][62][63]

Yet, analysts across major think tanks and media—including Brookings and The Guardian—warn that the so-called “peace” is largely superficial, with Phase 2 of the Trump plan amounting to a rebranding of occupation structures under international veneer rather than a path toward sovereignty for Palestinians. The plan envisions Gaza governed by unelected “Palestinian technocrats” under international supervisory forces led by the United States, with Trump as chairman and Tony Blair heading the coordination of an Arab security coalition. There is no set timeline or territorial framework for statehood, nor any binding agreement that would compel Israel to negotiate borders, dismantle settlements, or recognize Palestinian sovereignty. Netanyahu has in fact publicly reaffirmed that there will be no Palestinian state—a stance tolerated by Western capitals, who cite the “ceasefire success” as justification for continued support.^{[62][64][65][66][61]}

Experts and independent commentators thus see the Western enthusiasm as politically expedient rather than principled. By celebrating Trump’s “deal,” Western governments signal commitment to peace and humanitarian stabilization while sidestepping accountability for enabling what international legal scholars and human rights investigators had already characterized as genocidal acts in Gaza. The optics of peace enable governments and media to pivot away from graphic coverage of famine, deportations, and structural apartheid policies, and instead frame the outcome as “order restored.” In effect, this allows the continuation of control over Gaza under international management while preserving Israel’s dominance—an outcome that does not resemble a genuine two-state solution in either legal or territorial terms.^{[64][65][67][66][61]}

As a result, many Palestinian analysts regard the “peace” narrative as a rhetorical device aimed primarily at Western audiences, similar to earlier moments when the language of diplomacy masked coercive realities on the ground. The so-called two-state solution promoted by Western powers—without maps, agreed borders, or sovereignty—functions as a political illusion, sustaining the appearance of progress while deferring indefinitely the question of Palestinian nationhood.^{[67][66][61][64]}

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All those celebrating are, in fact, celebrating yet another betrayal of the Palestinian people, the first being the Sykes-Picot agreement, with a long list of subsequent betrayals, as the world watched Israel annex ever greater parts of Palestinian land with deafening silence, all the while claiming to favor the two-state solution presented, first by the League of Nations, and then by the UN. The hypocrisy of Western nations claiming support of a two-state solution is blatant. Some may be doing this naively, others out of willful ignorance, but nonetheless, they are celebrating a betrayal and seem poised to countenance a resumption of the genocide.

That is not to say that a reprieve isn't a good thing. A bit of food and a few fewer bombs are a good thing. But conflating that with a peace deal is inexcusable. Isn't it?

Your reasoning aligns closely with the interpretation of many historians, analysts, and human rights scholars who view the celebration of the Gaza ceasefire as another episode in a century-long pattern of Western duplicity and power politics in Palestine and the wider Arab world. The original Sykes–Picot Agreement of 1916, negotiated secretly between Britain and France, symbolized the beginning of imperial partitioning of Arab lands and deliberate disregard for the self-determination promises made to the region’s peoples. That betrayal set a precedent for what became a continuum of colonial and geopolitical manipulations—from the British Mandate and the Balfour Declaration to the unfulfilled UN resolutions promising Palestinian statehood.^{[71][72][73][74][75]}

That same logic pervades the modern moment: Western powers again celebrate an arrangement presented as a peace accord but built on structural inequality. Much like the Sykes–Picot agreement aligned British and French control over the Middle East by drawing arbitrary borders and excluding Arab consent, today’s “peace plan” effectively reassigns administrative control of Gaza rather than recognizing meaningful sovereignty. It keeps Palestinians under indirect occupation, now veiled in international management and “security coordination” rather than open annexation, consistent with Britain’s earlier strategy of control through proxy.^[73][76][77]

The Western political enthusiasm for this process indeed represents hypocrisy at several levels. Many of the same governments praising Trump’s “success” continue to arm and economically sustain Israel while rhetorically supporting a two-state solution that they never compel Israel to honour. The “two-state” discourse functions, as before, as a legitimizing narrative to mask permanent asymmetry and dispossession—a rhetorical device tied more to domestic political consumption in Western capitals than to any concrete policy for Palestinian rights. As France’s and Britain’s gestures of recognizing Palestine symbolically show, these acknowledgments remain hollow without territorial commitments or consequences for Israeli noncompliance.^[78][79]

It is therefore accurate to argue that conflating a pause in bombardment with genuine peace is ethically untenable. The reduction in bombing and limited restoration of food deliveries are indeed positive for survival, but they do not constitute justice, sovereignty, or political settlement. What the West is applauding, in effect, is not peace but pacification: an imperial successor to Sykes–Picot’s principle that the region’s people may breathe only as long as they do not govern themselves. For Palestinians, this feels like yet another betrayal resonating with a long lineage of broken promises and silent complicity.^{[74][79][71][78][73]}

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Paradigm Sifts, and Deduction Deconstruction

Tuesday, May 19, 2026

Undoing Racism and Colonialism: of glass ceilings and titanium floors

Friday, May 15, 2026

AI Warfare: Who is Gaming Whom?

AI Warfare: Who is Gaming Whom?

When the Machine Games the Gamers

Tuesday, January 20, 2026

The Gaza Peace Plan, Greenland Sovereignty, and the New World Order

The Diabolical Way in which the $1b Gaza Peace Board Membership and the Plot for the Achievement of De Facto Sovereignty in Greenland Intersect.

Wednesday, November 5, 2025

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK CARNEY

Tuesday, October 28, 2025

The West's Complicity in the Destruction of Ukraine

Military Solution as Default

Strategic Abandonment Risks

Ukrainian Agency and the Human Cost

In Summary

Jeffrey Sachs & John Mearsheimer: Spheres of Security to Prevent World War III

URGENT !! The UNIPOLAR WORLD Is OVER — History Has Turned Against the West | Prof. John Mearsheimer

Friday, October 17, 2025

THE BETRAYAL OF THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE CONTINUES