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.

Orban's Habsburg Dreams in Hungary and Europe

https://www.politico.eu/article/habsburg-empire-viktor-orban-patriots-for-europe-hard-right-european-parliament-hungary-austria-czech-republic/

https://apnews.com/article/viktor-orban-hungary-romania-eu-3ea649669de75d13b0ba3585c0e83239

The lead article alludes to the Habsburg Empire but then proves less than accurate in some of its historical statements. Orban does indeed have Habsburg allies but the article isn't really about the Habsburgs. The article touches on his grand vision, the supposed reconstitution of the Habsburg realm, but the story is really in the numbers. These reveal the rightward shift that's taking place in Europe and (I think) sheds light on Orban's more immediate machinations. It's clear he's thinking a couple of steps ahead, preparing for the next European Parliamentary election in 2029.

To Flip Armenia and the Fall of Nagorno-Karabakh

https://eurasianet.org/as-azerbaijan-takes-over-karabakh-armenian-russian-ties-reach-new-nadir

As I have related in the past, the Armenian lobby in the United States has been faced with an impossible situation, a position divorced from the realities of US foreign policy. Since the fall of the USSR, Armenia has been allied with Russia and indirectly with Iran. America has, since the formation of NATO been an ally of the Turks, and with the break-up of the Soviet Union this relationship extended to the Turkish regime in Azerbaijan. The latter country was particularly attractive given its oil resources and geo-strategic position on the Caspian Sea which connects it to Central Asia.

The Habsburg Way of Lying

https://taylormarshall.com/2023/04/981-habsburg-way-interview-eduard-habsburg-dr-taylor-marshall-podcast.html

Listening to Taylor Marshall interview Eduard Habsburg I was struck by many things. In many respects the interview was a waste of time as it had nothing to do with the Christianity of Scripture but was instead an attempt to create an amalgam – to join modern Catholic Integralism (with Throne and Altar Ideology) with modern Liberalism and its democratic regime of rights, the individual and capitalist economics. It doesn't work and the contradictions were on display during this interview – for those paying attention.

The Ghost of Woodrow Wilson

https://apnews.com/article/russian-interference-florida-elections-americans-charged-32324ddc67b2f32b0cdab13db6f6acb4

During World War I, the Wilson administration targeted dissenters and critics of America's war policy and in many cases jailed and deported them. Even suggesting that someone shouldn't register for the draft was enough to warrant an investigation and possible arrest. It was also a time of vigilante groups, and unofficial 'shadow' units within police and sheriff's departments. Groups like the American Legion also played a part in pursuing and harassing critics of the war.

War and the Authoritarian Clampdown in Russia

People seem shocked that Vladimir Putin is making aggressive moves to silence dissent and punish social nonconformity. They shouldn't be and I'm not just saying that because it's Vladimir Putin. All states, whether already authoritarian-leaning entities such as Russia and China or even so-called liberal democracies like the United States, resort to some form of internal clampdown whenever the war machine is running under full steam.

A Soldier Worthy of Salute and Memory

https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/05/30/memorial-day-salute-to-a-repentant-ex-marine/

The article cites the new book – Gangsters of Capitalism: Smedley Butler, The Marines, and the Making and Breaking of America’s Empire by Jonathan Katz (St. Martin's Press 2022).

This is a book that I want to read. Butler is a fascinating character and one soldier that I too would salute. He was a true hero, not for his soldiering but for his courage and willingness to tell the truth about it – something that actually took more courage and exacted a heavier price than all his battlefield exploits.

A Ukraine Miscellany (V): A Dangerous Moment of Manipulations and Intensifications

In something of a cultural watershed the US government is openly allowing for and promoting crowd-funding for the Ukrainian army. Viewed as a just cause, once again it's clear Washington has no desire for this conflict to end in the near term.

Austrian Intelligence and the Rise of the Right

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-austria-attack-mosques/austria-admits-intolerable-mistakes-in-checks-on-vienna-attacker-idUSKBN27M1J8

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-austria-attack-mosques/austria-orders-closure-of-radical-mosques-news-agency-apa-says-idUKKBN27M1J4

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/11/11/austria-to-introduce-preventive-detention-after-deadly-attack

The Austrian government had intelligence from Slovakia that the gunman was acting suspiciously and there were indications that he might be planning some sort of attack. And it should be to no one's surprise that Berlin was also aware of him.

The Context of the Hagia Sophia Controversy

Erdogan's conversion of the Hagia Sophia museum back into a mosque has generated a fair bit of news coverage in the West, coupled with not a little consternation and some confusion.

Orban's Flirtations with Hungarian Dictatorship

https://unherd.com/2020/05/how-viktor-orban-plays-his-enemies/

https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/05/27/862925730/hungary-says-it-will-end-state-of-emergency-giving-orban-power-to-rule-by-decree

Everyone has an angle on Covid-19. For some it provides opportunities to push the envelope of power and Hungary's Viktor Orban has done just that. In light of Orban's attempt to seize emergency powers, cries of dictatorship prevailed and the EU started to take further action against the wayward government in Budapest.

South Tyrol: A Chink in the EU's Armour

https://www.thelocal.it/20181018/italy-and-austria-at-odds-over-south-tyrol-dual-citizenship

The region of South Tyrol doesn't normally make it into the news. An alpine wonderland, for most it's just part of northern Italy and yet its story is far more complicated. It's actually one of the dozens of potential 'trouble spots' within Europe that retain the possibility of future political turmoil and unrest. South Tyrol isn't a 'hot spot' like Kosovo or even as contentious as Transylvania, Ulster or Catalonia but it still has the potential to generate trouble. The EU was supposed to eliminate these tensions, to bring these cycles of history to an end and yet history just won't go away. And as Brussels weakens, history is rearing its head.

An Oft Repeated and Heretical Lie

I was reading the latest issue of the Evangelical Times and as usual I have come to expect a bit of mixed bag. I read it for the information knowing full well that I will often disagree with much of the analysis and many of the assumptions.

V4: The Visegrad Group and its Place in Central European Geopolitics

https://www.euractiv.com/section/central-europe/news/china-hosts-visegrad-group-calls-them-dynamic-force-in-eu/

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-42868599

Have you ever heard of the Visegrad Group or as it sometimes called the V4?

It's not a new concept but the framework is starting to get a little more attention in the international media. Knowing about it will prove helpful to those trying to understand the dynamic at work between these nations of Central Europe and power centres like Brussels, Washington and Moscow.

Viktor Orban's recent victory in the Hungarian presidential election and further focus on Poland will necessarily drive commentators and analysts to address why some of these former Warsaw Pact members are charting a course that is increasingly hostile to Brussels.

One way of understanding the posture of both Poland and Hungary is to view them through the lens of Visegrad, a group formed in 1991 with Czechoslovakia. It's named after Visegrad Castle where a famous congress took place in 1335 in which the monarchs of Poland, Hungary and Bohemia formed an anti-Habsburg alliance.

An Army for Kosovo

https://www.euractiv.com/section/enlargement/news/belgrade-and-washington-have-differing-views-on-kosovo-army/

Of course Washington and Belgrade have different views on whether or not Kosovo should have its own army. Serbia is but one of many nations that have refused to recognise the 2008 Washington created Pristina regime. Though the Western public has moved on, not everyone accepts the results of NATO's wars against the Serbs.

The Guardian, Establishment Appropriation and Ghosts of World War I

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/21/europe-crisis-balkans-eu-membership-russia-china-turkey

Alongside publications like the New York Times and Washington Post, The Guardian has moved into a position of being one of the chief publications at the forefront of Western Imperialism. Championing the Anti-Russian campaign and zealously advocating for intervention in Syria, the paper pushes on many fronts for NATO militarism and so-called humanitarian wars.

Macedonia: The Balkan Trap

http://www.euractiv.com/section/elections/news/macedonias-political-crisis-takes-ethnic-turn/

http://www.euractiv.com/section/elections/news/macedonian-president-warns-eu-nato-of-albanian-meddling/

Albania insists it has a right and obligation to pursue the interests of ethnic Albanians in neighbouring countries. In other words the NATO-proxy says it has the right to meddle.

Keating, Keating and Butler

Perhaps I wasn't alone when I heard on the radio that Charles Keating was killed in Iraq. It stopped me dead in my tracks.

What?

I did a double-take because the name was all too familiar. Charles Keating was one of the major figures in the Savings and Loan Crisis of the 1980s and early 1990s.

Transcaucasia: Alliances and Arms Sales by Proxy

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has flared once again and is making the news. The conflict which erupted as the Soviet Union collapsed has never been fully resolved. The breakaway Armenian enclave lives in a state of siege and there continues to be dangerous border areas inhabited by snipers etc...

PBS/Frontline: Obama, Syria and ISIS

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/obama-at-war/

PBS's Frontline is a good programme when it comes to covering topics like the prison system, banking and domestic politics. But it is all but worthless when it comes to covering the foreign policy of the United States or any international event that touches on American interests. It's hard to find one that doesn't concern the empire thus severely limiting the scope of a show like Frontline.

This was abundantly clear in the recent documentary 'Obama at War' which dealt with American policy regarding Syria and the rise of ISIS.