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.
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.
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.
“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 “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.
Syria’s Interior Ministry has announced a new string of foiled Hezbollah assassination plots against high-level figures, attacks on minority figures and civilian targets, and weapons transfers, alleging the group and Iran-backed actors are seeking to undermine local security across the country.
“[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.
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.
The insurgency in Mali escalates after over 30 have been killed in twin attacks in Korikori and Gomossogou, in attacks blamed on the JNIM.
Two attacks in central Mali claimed by Al-Qaeda-linked jihadists have killed more than 30 people, local, security and administrative sources told AFP on Thursday.