Sacralism, Smartphone Technology, and a PBS Report on Chinese Underground Christians

https://www.pbs.org/video/crackdown-on-christians-1761415813/

Sadly this reporting reveals a direct correlation between American geopolitical and economic pressure on China and Xi's decision to persecute Christians.

AI Targeting, Ethics, and the Guns of August

https://www.democracynow.org/2026/3/18/ai_warfare

Everyone is talking about AI right now and unless you've had your head in the sand, you're aware of the discussions regarding the Pentagon's use of the technology and suspicions and claims that it was AI targeting that resulted in the hit on the girl's school in Minab, Iran. Over 175 were killed as a result and while Anthropic has protested and subsequently been blacklisted by the Pentagon, reports suggest that Palantir and other platforms still make use of Anthropic AI.

For years there were discussions about the ethics of robots in battle. Well, the use of AI has circumvented this debate and now computers are actively involved in targeting. The sheer speed of operations means the human element is minimal and unable to keep up.

Washington's Latest Moves Against Beijing

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/9/21/quad-leaders-meet-in-bidens-hometown-amid-growing-china-competition

https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/china-testing-us-all-joe-biden-caught-on-mic-telling-quad-leaders-101726970216499.html

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/biden-proposes-banning-chinese-vehicles-us-roads-with-software-crackdown-2024-09-23/

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/09/09/economist-calls-trumps-threat-to-tariff-countries-that-shun-the-dollar-a-lose-lose.html

https://www.reuters.com/world/us-keeps-missile-system-philippines-china-tensions-rise-tests-wartime-deployment-2024-09-19/

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3279516/us-typhon-missile-system-philippines-has-china-facing-more-tense-security-situation

At the end of September, the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue or QUAD met in Delaware. This is the most comprehensive of the new network of alliances created by Washington to combat China. The Quad is comprised of India, Japan, Australia, and the United States. This is in addition to AUKUS which has a more robust security element. What's important about the Quad is that it incorporates India and as such is critical to the US 'Indo-Pacific' framing of geo-politics and strategy vis-à-vis Beijing. AUKUS has more teeth but the Quad has the potential to be more important.

A New App in China

https://www.christianpost.com/news/chinese-christians-must-register-to-attend-church-service-report.html

No, this isn't about TikTok but about a state sponsored registry app for Christians within China and the reporting failures of the Evangelical infotainment, tabloid, and spin factories that try to pass themselves off as news.

The Ethics of Cobalt

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2023/02/01/1152893248/red-cobalt-congo-drc-mining-siddharth-kara

Listening to this sad and disturbing but already well documented story of Cobalt mining in the Congo, I found myself frustrated on multiple levels.

Mammon, Technology, and the Road to Dystopia

https://www.npr.org/2022/03/18/1087446715/heres-how-americans-view-facial-recognition-and-driverless-cars

Some people embrace these new technologies and some don't. Some are concerned with the role they're playing in our lives and are afraid of what they're doing to society. Others are optimistic and filled with hope and even revel in their potential.

Missile Militarism in Asia

https://www.thedefensepost.com/2021/10/28/india-tests-ballistic-missile/

As China intensifies its missile programmes, India is keen to do the same. While Beijing's primary focus is on the US Navy and in particular its fleet of aircraft carriers, an East Asian War would almost certainly involve India. Beijing and New Delhi have been on edge for decades and thus India is pursuing this technology and as with all tests – sending a signal.

Spinning Pegasus

https://www.npr.org/2021/07/29/1022214491/leaks-reveal-spyware-meant-to-track-criminals-targeted-activists-instead

The Fresh Air interview contained some helpful information but it was overshadowed by an air of absurdity. There were numerous elephants in the room that were being ignored leading one to question the sincerity of the participants.

Cyborg Warriors

https://www.thedefensepost.com/2021/05/05/us-space-chief-human-augmentation/

The reason this is being discussed is because it's probably already happening. Either the West is already involved in human augmentation, the Chinese are doing it – or probably a bit of both.

Facial Recognition Being Normalised in the West

https://www.thedefensepost.com/2021/04/06/us-army-facial-recognition-bases/

One might call this The China Effect. Already the UK is using facial recognition software and US law enforcement agencies are certainly using the software to scan through ID photo databases and social media.

Fiscal and Diplomatic Cracks in the Atlanticist Wall

https://www.centralasianews.net/news/267414063/eu-china-investment-deal-threatens-us-europe-relations

This represents a further development of what I reported in 2018:

https://pilgrimunderground.blogspot.com/2018/06/atlantic-breakdown-in-slow-motion.html

http://proto-protestantism.blogspot.com/2018/04/cracks-in-atlantic-wall.html

Right wing commentators in the United States are focusing on Europe's 'betrayal' – the fact that Europe is not bowing in every case to Washington's instructions and desires. This has been a reality since the fruition of the European Union project in the 1990's. At that time even the continuation of NATO was an open question.

Assessing the Nashville Bomber

When the reports broke on the morning of 25 December I was at first afraid that it was another Oklahoma City Bombing – another terroristic act perpetrated by a Right-wing activist – or worse, some kind of Trumpite-Christian fanatic. In some respects I'm surprised that more of such things haven't happened but then again, there are still many in those circles that seem to think Trump is somehow going to 'pull this one out' and retain the presidency. (I wrote this before the 6 January incident)

Dystopia Rising: Augmented Soldiers

https://www.thedefensepost.com/2020/12/11/france-augmented-soldiers/

Once these technologies are developed they won't stay static and they won't be contained. At the very least they'll be sold on the black market. And even if Western 'liberal democratic' governments decide to formally reject the technology in terms of an official capacity, it is certain that they will develop them and use them via proxies.

Crypto AG, Sweden, and the American Empire

https://www.politico.eu/article/sweden-ann-linde-and-switzerland-ignazio-cassis-get-frosty-over-espionage-claims/ 

The Swedish connection to the story is significant because though Sweden never joined NATO, it nevertheless played a special role during the Cold War and the US has long been involved with its defense and intelligence Establishment. There are still many unanswered questions from the period including plausible suggestions of CIA involvement in the assassination of Prime Minister Olof Palme. Only the most credulous accepted the recent findings of the Swedish government regarding the 1986 assassination.

Tech Resistance in the Face of Orwellian Surveillance

One might say it's a case of fighting technology with technology or perhaps one could view it as a type of counter espionage. While most of the public willingly surrenders their information to the state and/or the corporate entities which exist in a symbiotic relationship with it – some of us are more than a little concerned.

Social Credit Scores Today and Tomorrow

https://www.thehour.com/opinion/article/Data-isn-t-just-being-collected-from-your-phone-15451658.php

The Snowden revelations in 2013 confirmed our fears that the Orwellian TIA (Total Information Awareness) programme had lived on despite the fact that it had supposedly been canceled by the Bush administration.

UK Politics: Labour Continues Phoney Anti-Semitic Purges and the Results of Beijing's Hong Kong Clampdown

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-53183085

Jeremy Corbyn is gone but the Labour Party's 'Anti-Semitism' push to the right agenda continues. It's being used as a means to purge the party of anyone who doesn't toe the Establishment line when it comes to UK foreign policy.

You could almost describe this as the UK's version of a flirtation with McCarthyism.

Questions Surrounding Coverage of the Saudi Nuclear Programme

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_energy_in_Saudi_Arabia

https://www.eurasiareview.com/19042020-saudi-arabias-nuclear-reactor-nears-completion-bringing-prospect-of-saudi-wmd-oped/

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/27/us-approved-secret-nuclear-power-work-for-saudi-arabia-reuters.html

https://www.npr.org/2019/05/06/719590408/as-saudi-arabia-builds-a-nuclear-reactor-some-worry-about-its-motives?t=1586993595561

After receiving some press a few years ago, the first phase of the Saudi nuclear project is (as of April 2020) nearing completion and yet many are expressing the warranted fear that the kingdom is going to pursue a weapons programme. While they have signed on to the Non-Proliferation Treaty or NPT, the treaty increasingly has no teeth. Undermined decades ago by Israel, India, Pakistan, South Africa and in recent years by Libya, Iran and North Korea, the international community's commitment to Non-Proliferation is becoming a quaint but largely meaningless commitment.

How Should We Then Live Part 6: The Scientific Age (I)

This was a complicated episode with fairly weighty ideas being thrown out at a fast clip. I struggled to take notes without pausing. As such this episode and probably the next will also require two parts in order for me to review and respond to the material. Additionally in this episode I wish to interact on a slightly more involved level with some of the arguments assumptions made by Schaeffer. These are really important issues, especially today and these touch on some very basic and fundamental questions about the nature of knowledge that I think are critical when considering the nature of Biblical authority. I think Schaeffer and his followers have missed the mark on this latter albeit critical point.

Surveillance and the Facial Recognition Non-Scandal

https://www.euractiv.com/section/digital/news/hundreds-of-us-police-departments-using-dystopian-face-recognition-app-report/

It's a scandal that continues to widen in its scope and yet in the United States nothing is being done, or even seriously entertained. In fact under Trump, surveillance technology continues to increase and law enforcement is being encouraged to use everything from facial recognition to sundry tracking systems. Some of the latest intrusions have been able to slip 'under the radar' as it were, under the aegis of combating illegal immigration.