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“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.

“[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.

An environmental knowledge commons could support evidence-based policymaking, but it will require long-term coordination across the many communities monitoring pollution and local conditions.

In the northern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, four communities are simultaneously navigating the past and future of energy. At oil refineries in Richmond and Martinez, it’s business as usual. Recently, Chevron Richmond and PBF Energy-owned Martinez Refining Company (MRC) have battled state regulators over stricter emissions rules. MRC has had a string of notable accidents and toxic dust releases that have worried and angered nearby residents, who have watchdogged the refineries for decades.

One of the biggest difficulties for politicians and pundits trying make sense of changes in the world is what I call the Problem of Classification. Most apparently sudden and violent changes have three common characteristics. The first is that they are not, in fact, sudden, but have been building up for a long time, often unnoticed and so not understood. The second is that some event, often unexpected, has intervened to suddenly make these changes which were previously hidden now obvious. The third is that in almost all cases, the changes obey simple rules which have been in force for millennia, but are not usually discussed in textbooks of politics and international relations.

Discord between Western allies — ostensibly due to contrasting views towards Islam and Israel — has recently escalated to a new height. Its core most likely consists of a deep-seated envy that a handful of scruffy, hunted people managed to transform a land of sand dunes, deserts and malarial swamps into a gleaming superpower — all while defending themselves against unrelenting neighboring countries trying to snuff them out. Such an achievement must, of course, be punished.