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DW.com looks at the Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1917. Colonial powers Britain and France create artificial states of Iraq, Syria and Lebanon by 1921 out of the collapsed Ottoman Empire, that are unmanageable even in 2026 with mix of different Islamic sects at odds with each other. Danger being of US and Europe getting sucked into the mess of five decades of wars in the Middle East.

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The Musk View - the Open AI lawsuit case against Sam Altman was about looting a charity by the founders. Basically Musk is saying he gave OpenAI $38 million and became one of its founders because of its non-profit business, not because it was afor profit business which would have raised many questions about the risks of for profits doing the wrong things with AI just for profit. Then Sam Altman breaks the promise of staying non-profit for his personal for profit gain, turns it into a for profit without answering any of the questions raised about the dangers of AI without regulatory safeguards into something worse than social media apps that spread fake news endangering democracies, and endangering education of a young generation, mental health risks for girls and children. Competition with China- in China much of it is controlled by the state and the state imposed limits on social media, to protect China's children and young people's educational needs. Tim Higgins says Musk lost but proved his point anyway on X and in the media so much so that speakers at commencements in American universities are being regularly booed  when they bring up AI.  Public perceptions have still not been shaped by the real issue - the massive misallocation of funds, the dubious propositions, the lack of normal financial scrutiny for return on investment that is supposed to happen in well run financial markets, ( is it or is it not a market system in the US as oligopolies are not free market systems), the failure to prove that the investments are viable by a long shot. Banks and capital markets are distorted in lending trillions of dollars to AI companies that cannot justify the investments on financial grounds of return in investment. Returns to the Nation and the American people, as well as financial returns are far better in rebuilding the  broken down infrastructure that America needs rebuilt, in investing in the industries that create jobs and strengthen competing with China and EU. How can the huge misallocation to AI of trillions of dollars, putting a burden on utilities to supply electricity for AI, and the distortion in capital markets to direct that money to infrastructure building and industrial renewal, be corrected? WSJ reports that there is a huge skeptical public on this issue. It is shown in Pew Research and Pew has not asked the question about alternative investments that are being starved of capital in what America desperately needs for reindustrialization and job creation, income creation, competition with China and the EU.   ...

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Geoffrey Hinton, a pioneer in the development of AI, resigns from Google and warns about the dangers of AI. He says AI poses profound risks to humanity and society. He says it is hard to see how bad actors would not misuse AI for bad things.

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Meet Pvt Hunter 80 years, and Pvt. Patrick 70 years of Canada's Rangers, an army reserve unit that acts as the eyes and ears of Canada's regular army for the vast region in the north, and conducts night rescue missions. Alistair Macdonald provides an exceptional account of an indigenous army reserve unit that sees age as no barrier as it brings together men past 70 years with younger men in their thirties and fifties, and patrols the vast Arctic region as well as northern Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia.

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John Taylor on the dual mandate for inflation and unemployment and discretionary policies by the U.S. Federal Reserve that ended up creating booms and busts in the U.S. economy. He advocates replacing the dual mandate of "maximum employment" and "stable prices," which was inserted into the Federal Reserve Act in the 1970's, with a single mandate for "long-run price stability." Taylor points out that this will still give the Fed flexibility, as it is focussed on long run price stability. The Fed does not have to overreact to short run increases in inflation. And he points out that this actually will work well for unemployment as the booms caused by an overextended period of low interest rates such as that in 2003-2005, have led to booms followed by busts with high unemployment.

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Pediatrics Association supports mandatory vaccination for children in defying CDC on this point. HHS Secretary Kennedy has different views on mandatory vaccination of children and the directives can be ocnfusing for parents. In states like Texas this is leading to children remaining unvaccinated creating real dangers as young mothers concerned about their children's health become hesitant about vaccination for 18 diseases.

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Kaname Harada, 98 years, was a Japanese fighter pilot during World War II. Here NYT's Martin Fackler provides this exceptional account of Harada's effort to remind each new generation since 1965 of the horrors of war, and why Japan should not forget the lessons of World War II. In 1965 Harada started teaching kindergarden children at a school he opened to help give a new Japanese generation the right values of peace. Since he retired he gives frequent public speeches on the values of peace, and how Japan has benefitted from the post war peacetime period. He reminds listeners about the horrors of war from his own experience shooting down 19 Allied aircraft from his Zero fighter plane, and being close enough to see the horror stricken faces of Americans in the other planes. Even at the age of 98, Harada's voice has vigor though he suffers from throat cancer. His message is that the best way for Japan to protect its children, and its children's children from war, is never to forget. He says the current generation of leaders were born after the war and have no idea what it is....

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After making headlines the issue of TikTok is no longer making news. Here is what has happened since- TikTok took the case to the Supreme Court after the Biden Administration's effort to bring it under US security with American ownership. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the government. Social media helped Republicans and DJT in the election. DJT wanted TiTok to be an American company if it was to operate in US. China was opposed to this and would not allow ByteDance the owner of TikTok negotiate this-leading to an impasse. The DJT administration worked out a relationship  with China by September 2025 following tit for tat tariffs in May 2025. Xi's strategy was to put rare earths on the table after it had gained a 90% monopoly on rare earths processing technologies and supplies. Some supplies include a site in Greenland, so that the Greenland issue as opponents of US acquisition have made appear is not fiction. DJT Administration pulled back and negotiated a deal with China but realized how the US had left key gaps in its security which is why the Greenland issue came up in 2025. Similar to how Democrat president Harry Truman had done as the Soviets expanded influence in Greece and Turkey by 1948. Little of this making it to almost the entire US press and the entire European press, including Democrat Harry Truman's 1947 offer of $100 million ($1.5 billion in 2026) for Greenland, rights, title and ownership similar to Alaska purchase by Seward, and US Virgin Islands purchase in 1916 from Denmark.   The deal makes TikTok an American/ China investor run company with Byte Dance ownership of 20%, Oracle 15%, Silverlake US equity firm 15%, Abu Dhabhi (UK type) MGX 15%, and prior investors 30%. Prior investors are General Atlantic, SIG, Steve Case's Revolution with JD Vance having equity, Dragoneer, NJJ Capital. The company now valued at $20 billion based on 200 million US users. Yet this does not address the dangers and damage done by social media hours for youth in the US, endless hours from education shifted to phones and social media videos. Australia has banned it for under 16 year olds, UK parliament has voted to ban, French parliament has also voted for a ban, China has strict rules that protect its youth for use specifying hours and restrictions, leaving the US and India, Brazil vulnerable to dangers of social media. Strictly speaking You Tube is considered as social media even though it serves an information function, Facebook and TikTok are where a lot of the damage to education takes place in social media. US is entirely leaving its young people especially women unprotected. Once the fentanyl issue is tackled attention will again focus on these dangers to creating good citizens in the US  with civic education if democracy is to be preserved, something endless numbers of lobbyists- which even in Teddy Roosevelt's and FDR's, JFK's days have opposed- will again oppose.     ...

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US Defense Spending charts as percentage of GDP since 1929 startling fact seen in this chart of Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis- that in 2026 we are seeing 1929-1937 levels of military spending to GDP ratio of 2-3% just before it jumped to 45% in 1940 in World War II. It is a cautionary tale not to spend too little (2-4% is a danger point), as lack of military modernization means a lot more spending soon after, almost 10 times that- 10 times 4% or 40%. Message to the US is not what Starmer and company are saying in Europe- it is that don't invite the existential crisis of 1940 again for western (US, EU, Canada, UK) and eastern democracies (India, Japan, Indonesia, Australia) by ignoring costs of military modernization. And 2-4% of GDP for military spending is not going to do this.

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Google antitrust decision in Mehta's Court for over 5 years since lawsuit by DJT in first term. During these 5 years much of the behaviours of monopolies and oligopolies in tech is further entrenched and new technology has created new ripples. The result is an ineffectual ruling that does little to address the original concerns of the Justice Department. Lost in all this commotion is the fact that there are real and present dangers in the situation presented by Google as a gatekeeper for knowledge and information which are a real and present danger to democratic forms of government as Google or social media tech companies can act as arbiters of information, a role that is not given to them under the US Constitution or any of the principles laid down by our founding fathers. Instead of being well informed under such tech monopolies and oligopolies the vast majority of the people will not get the information they need to make decisions to the detriment of the Nation. ...

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Susie Dent on Vocabulary in decline in UK ( and the US) as screen time takes time from learning new words. “There is a huge perception that screen time is having a negative impact on vocabulary, and I think that’s because it is taking away from reading time. The digital lives of our children are taking a greater and greater role and reading certainly is in decline." Dent cites a 2023 Oxford University Press report that 40% of children had fallen behind in vocabulary development. She says there is areal danger that vocabulary development is suffering for children and that this impacts learning for children.

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UK 'one in, one out' deal with France to return migrants crossing Channel in small boats November 2025. It is an effort that comes ten years after Denmark's Mette Frederiksen of the socialists pointed out the dangers of illegal migration to European society and five years after Wilders from the Netherlands pointed out the problems of illegal migration. 

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This NYT's look at PDVSA the Venezuelan oil industry 2026 and in the years 2013-2026 after Chavez is an eye opener on what happens when socialist ideas of distribution and equality fall apart. There are dangers on both sides the Right, the Left makes no difference mere labels, vigilance, good leadership, clean governance, good management hard work, are essential for countries and peoples to prosper.The operations of the Venezuelan oil industry in these years as shown in the NYT. show the failures of the Chavez ideas for the economy, hyper inflation and mismanagement of the country's oil resources that followed in 2013-2026. From Nigeria, to India in the years just before the 2014 elections, to West Bengal, India in 2026, many such lessons in Indian states post Independence 1947, Sri Lanka, clear lessons on how socialist regimes take a turn into financial disaster as dreams evaporate and economies are destroyed with lack of jobs and industry, mismanagement and corruption. Everything falls apart, billions of dollars of public funds are lost, economies are ruined, people's lives destroyed, a cautionary tale for future generations. In Latin America, Asia and Africa most prone to such disasters, where bad leaders can come to power through elections if the situations are allowed to be created where this can happen through the lack of effort to build better societies that work. ...

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Dangers of capital allocation to AI when other needs are great -housing and cost of living concerns. The prospects of boom bust cycle.

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Jillian Michaels, health and nutrition expert shown in NYT as an example of changing political perspectives in 2025 on health, and dangers of not speaking up for nutrition and wellness in America.

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Tsutsui Yoshinobu, head of Keidanren, Japan's business federation, says China limiting exports of vital raw materials is "an obvious act of economic coercion." For the first time in 2025 Keidanren cancelled its annual dialogue meeting with China's representatives.  This was a followup to comments by Japanese PM Sanae that it would consider an attack on Taiwan as a danger to Japan's security. Sanae now enjoys 62% popularity rating. After 2 years of the LDp government with aminority in parliament she has announced a snap election to gain an abasolute majority in parliament. In the last elections small nationalist parties gained a large share of votes. Changes are happening in Japanese politics as a younger generation becomes more nationalistic. Sanae was made PM only recently at the end of 2025 after the PM in the LDP party faced criticism and resigned. Before he resigned he quickly signed a trade agreement with the US DJT administration to maintain Japanese exports to US at a 15% tariff. ...

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Startling fact seen in this chart of Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis in the adjoining article next to this one- that in 2026 we are seeing 1929-1937 levels of military spending to GDP ratio of 2-3% just before it jumped to 45% in 1940. It is a cautionary tale not to spend too little (2-4% is a danger point) as lack of military modernization means a lot more spending soon after, almost 10 times that- 10 times 4% or 40% in World War II.  Message to the US is not what Starmer and company are saying in Europe- it is that don't invite the existential crisis of 1940 again for western (US, EU, Canada, UK) and eastern democracies (India, Japan, Indonesia, Australia) by not doing military modernization. And 2-4% of GDP for military spending is not going to be enough to do this.

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William Barr, Attorney general of the US 1991-1993 and again 2019-2020, says serious regulation to breakup the power and chokehold on communications of Big Tech should be the first priority of 2023. He says they have too much power and pose a threefold danger. First they have a chokehold over essential channels of communications and commerce, letting them be the gatekeepers to the digital world. Second they vacuum up a trove of personal information of users that permits manipulating user beliefs and behaviour. Third, they distort the "marketplace of ideas"  and as gatekeepers can pursue their own political and economic agendas. He cautions antitrust litigation is too slow and case by case approach is not the way. And too much time is misspent on proving misconduct, when that is not necessary, as regulatory intervention has been needed whether or not there is misconduct for a fair and good market system to work. He says new dangers are happening and it is time for Congress to stop being all talk and no action even as digital platforms are taking unfair advantage and endangering the fairness of the market system. ...

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The dangers of crypto currency have not gone away says Eswar Prasad of Cornell University. Crypto currency companies have simply joined the bandwagon for acceptance using the two political parties into the 2024 elections, he says. He calls this a cynical bid by political parties for Silicon Valley cash and young voters. If anything he says the risks are greater today. Sam Bankman and FTX scandal are just the tip of the iceberg of these risks.  Prasad says not to be fooled. China, India and Japanese governments have kept crypto at a distance because of the dangers inherent in a currency that cannot have the backing of the central bank. Prasad says that crypto itself still has dangers of speculation, financial engineering and outright fraud. These dangers can then spillover into traditional banking and financial markets. The information technology that crypto has used is already being used in traditional banking so that this is no longer something that is characteristic of crypto just something that it has been using. This is a scant regulated market and crypto companies like tech companies in social media that threatens education and democracy through misinformation want to keep it that way.   ...

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US president DJT outspoken in "The Conversation," with Dasha Burns in The Politico magazine about dangers of "civilizational erasure" for the Europe that people knew in the past as its population changes with uncontrolled migration of the past two decades. DJT comments on a wide range of topics centering on the migration that has changed the life and politics of Europe by 2025 and what the future holds for Europe if it does not preserve it's own identity handed down for generations. Dasha Burns starts with Ukraine- the reports say DJT said this or that about Ukraine but look at the question she put to DJT- Which country is in the stronger negotiating position? Most people know the answer in the winter of 2025 is that Russia is in a much much stronger position in 2025 and a big part of this is it's size 40 million people in Ukraine to 120 million in Russia and oil revenues. Then Burns asks if it is Zelensky who is responsible for the stalled progress what's going on here, all the time giving DJT something that he might take up that would make a headline grabbing interview. She prompts DJT with the starter phrases and pausing for DJT to pick up on it- If Zelensky rejects this deal, do you think Ukraine has lost this war, and the consensus in Europe is to keep supporting Ukraine until they can win this war. And DJT does no more than what he has said many many times about the difficult situation Ukraine is in. Asked if the US may walk away from supporting Ukraine as Trump Jr. has said, and DJT says- "No it isn't correct. But it's not exactly wrong" because they have to play ball. And that is exactly what the European states UK, France, Germany, Italy, have done as they keep talking and modify the original plan devised by Russia and the US. What this says is that the European states are not trying to win this war and at the same time not willing to let this war be lost and the principle of invading another country be seen as acceptable. This is where there are limits to DJT's diplomacy as he attributes the problem to the hatred between the leaders of the two countries. DJT does not say Zelensky would lose the election if one were held in 2026 as he calls for elections.   ...

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Early warning about the danger of a small group of individuals deciding the future of an important technology that has dangerous potential if placed in a few hands. With the dangers ever present that the pace of development is outpacing regulatory effort, and the profit enabling a few corporations to stifle regulatory effort in America's flawed democracy. Sam Altman is seen by the board of OpenAI as "hindering the efforts of the board to carry out its responsibilities." The tension of the board with Sam Altman comes from the thinking at the board that the rapid expansion of commercial offerings was not giving time to consider the safety implications of the products rolled out. Watching Joanna Stern of WSJ interview Sam Altman and Murali Murthi gives the impression that Altman was  moving too quickly and Murthi was saying the right things but lacked the experience and capacity to tackle AI's vast responsibilities. This also stems from the fact that what young Stanford and other tech graduates in their early thirties have done in the last 2 decades ends a chapter in America's tech history. AI is an entirely different technology which requires the involvement of major parts of America's whole technological and scientific community and its society, not just a few individuals. This is also the lesson from the pandemic for virus research where not just the Cambridge, Massachusetts community needed to be involved, but vast parts of America'a health and medicine scientific community and the American public. A million lives were lost in the pandemic in the US alone, and millions all over the world. It is a lesson that should never be forgotten- that technology can get out of control. ...