Threats To Democracy from Spyware and Authoritarian Partnerships
Also, Biden in the Middle East, Elon, American entrepreneurism, and a trip to London
Some of the greatest threats to democracy and freedom lurk in the shadows, not the front pages of your favorite newspaper. Which is why we wrote a piece on Pegasus, the spyware you (and everyone) should know about.
In the article, we go into everything you need to know. From what Pegasus does to the NSO Group that developed it. We end with proposals on what the international community should do to combat such technologies. After all, they can be just as problematic in the hands of government as they can in the hands of terrorists or other bad actors.
Biden in the Middle East
Many of the headlines from this past week focused on President Biden’s trip to the Middle East. He gave the infamous MBS a fist bump.
Did Biden forget the intelligence report on the Jamal Khashoggi murder? He declassified it in the early days of his presidency.
Apparently he forgot. Otherwise I cannot figure out why he would be fist bumping the man American intelligence said must have known about Khashoggi’s murder. Not to mention that he likely ordered it.
We did a short video questioning why “human rights” are suddenly not a priority for Biden.
Elon Keeps Fighting
After Twitter filed suit against Elon last week, we did this short video and this longer one explaining why Elon will likely lose.
Despite the law stacked against him though, you have to hand it to the guy. He keeps fighting in a very Trumpian fashion. His lawyers recently asked the court to delay the case until early next year.
He probably won’t win that motion either, but he probably doesn’t care. This has become too fun a game for him.
Is American Entrepreneurism Dead?
That’s the question we asked after finishing Shoe Dog by Nike founder Phil Knight. Check out our book review and analysis of that question. The answer may surprise you.
Initial Takeaways from London
We returned home recently from a two week trip to London. Check out these 5 takeaways from our time, which was primarily spent in the City of the London.
Stay tuned for more content about our trip, London itself, and the ease in which money laundering takes place there. We’ll also explore what has changed post-Brexit, as this was our first time there since Brexit was made official.
In other news…
Apparently arming almost 400 police officers is not enough to stop one school shooter. But more guns should make us safer, right?
Well if we want to take our guns as seriously as Switzerland does, then maybe things would be safer (and saner) around here. But God forbid we do anything that could be construed as gun control.
At least we have seemed to move on from blaming the teachers in Uvalde. Yes, the local police actually tried to scapegoat them. At first.
On tap…
This week we’re interested in the shifting power centers between west and east, and north and south. In particular, how China and Russia appear to be forming more of an alliance by the day, despite having different albeit similar foreign policy interests.
How the “West” responds to this growing partnership will be crucial for how the next decade plays out. Especially since both China and Russia have strong economic ties with most of the developing world, from Africa to Latin America.
We plan to explore how the West should respond to this growing threat from partnering authoritarian governments, something the world has not seen since the Cold War.
Former President Obama had a great speech that you can find here on the continuing fight we must wage to preserve and promote democracy. It was hard to always agree with him while he was in office, but after living through the past 6 years, it’s hard not to appreciate him more.
Human history may be rife with violence and oppression but the arc of justice bends toward the good. Never forget that democracy is a work in progress, and something that is not guaranteed.
Push forward.
Have a good week.
For more content from Logan Stone, see Polispandit.com and the PolisPandit Podcast.
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