What Was the Cuban Revolution? The Dream Is Dying but the Myth Will Persist

Just how and when the Cuban dictatorship will disappear is impossible to predict: a deal with Donald Trump to build hotels in Varader; the Marines welcomed by crowds on the Havana Malecón; popular protests overwhelming an army unwilling to fire on its people; a real, necessary and desirable peaceful transition to democratic rule and economic reform. Dozens of experts and pundits have lost their shirts betting on the regime’s demise since 1959. The convergence of new factors, however, suggests that Cuba has entered a new and probably terminal phase. Its economic collapse, the end of the Venezuelan subsidy, the Trump administration’s willingness and ability to squeeze it further, the growing discontent and protests of the island’s inhabitants, are all factors that were absent in prior decades.

The Pope Says AI Is Babel: We Are Already Inside the Tower

The Vatican’s new AI warning is not about machines. It is about the oldest human temptation: building a tower, summoning a voice, and mistaking the vessel for the source.

The Vatican just did something historical and culturally important, regardless of your religious or secular beliefs.

Putin’s stagnation: police in Russia again disperse concerts, and metalworkers are fined for tattoos and clothes

Over the past year in Russia, the security forces have disrupted a series of punk and metal concerts. 35 years after the collapse of the USSR, representatives of subcultures are again persecuted in Russia – those who were previously called “informals”. Concerts are banned and dispersed, songs are censored, and for improper clothes are fined. The police and judges rely on anti-extremist legislation, which is increasingly tightening. Objects of repression are not necessarily young rebellious, sometimes quite loyal to the state of age. The current bans are even tougher than the Soviet ones.

Limited Intelligence: How Civil Society Is Trying to Take Control of AI

The break in the contract between the Pentagon and Anthropic has become one of the biggest scandals around the ethics of the use of AI technology. The more rapidly the artificial intelligence market is developing, the more acute the question of ethical limitations of digital algorithms is. Most states have not been able to develop legislation governing AI technology, and their developers are resisting any attempt to impose restrictions on their work. While states fail, civil society takes care of this burden: we are talking about such tools as civil audit of AI technologies, the development of ethical codes and licenses, collective testing and pressure through the media.

On Defense and Offense: Revisiting Clausewitz, Mao Zedong and Thucydides

“No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.” Patton’s remark, while it had not advanced the study of war by any measure, stated what had been the objectives of military commanders of history: to defeat the enemy and preserve their own forces. Clausewitz, in order to elaborate the importance of attack and defense to the theory of war, said it longer and more philosophically: “as I have not overthrown my opponent I am bound to fear he may overthrow me” [and one third of his first chapter of the first book of On War].[1]

Palantir’s Technocracy Manifesto may well lead humanity to its self-destruction

Palantir’s “Technological Republic” would be technocracy, the depoliticized political structure, driven by AI, organized as the Benthamite panopticon, in which scientists and engineers act as philosophical guardians.

Palantir, already notorious as a megacorporation dedicated to data control and analysis, but also as the most properly and consciously “ideological” of the IT services companies, has recently launched a political manifesto that opens a revealing, though not very surprising, window into its vision of the future.

Sweden Drops ‘Islamophobia’, Votes for Free Speech

“[T]here are people who suffer genuine anti-Muslim hatred, bigotry, and discrimination based on their faith or perceived identity. This must always be challenged and addressed, as it undermines pluralism and social cohesion. On the other hand, Islamist organizations have deliberately weaponized the term Islamophobia to shut down scrutiny of their ideology and political activities. By labeling criticism of Islamist ideas or networks as ‘Islamophobic,’ they deliberately blur the line between protecting people and protecting an ideology. This is why Islamophobia is the wrong term—it places an ideology beyond criticism rather than safeguarding individuals from hatred.” — From “The Muslim Brotherhood’s Strategic Entryism Into the United States: A Systemic Analysis,” a report by the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy, 2025.

How the US-Israel war has cemented the IRGC’s grip on Iran

Far from weakening the IRGC, the war has entrenched its power, pushing Iran towards a military-run state with clerical cover

In its war against Iran, the US and Israel have heavily targeted the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), striking its command structure, intelligence networks, air and naval assets, as well as broader military infrastructure.