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MoD sources warn Palantir role at heart of government is threat to UK security

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Re: MoD sources warn Palantir role at heart of government is threat to UK security

#91

Post by kypro »

watwut wrote: post #59
kypro wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

It is his opinions and political goals. Not because he is maybe possibly on spectrum, which is something that does not make him any less awful.

Well that's even worse... I'm not sure I can personally get onboard with the idea of a government preventing people from obtaining security clearance for their personal or political opinions to be honest, unless they are directly opposed to the national security interests of the US of course...

What relevance does someone not liking his opinions and politics have on whether or not he should obtain security clearance? I assume your position here is more nuanced that what your comment suggests?

Re: MoD sources warn Palantir role at heart of government is threat to UK security

#92

Post by dragonwriter »

kypro wrote: post #56
mosura wrote: post #29

The fact Alex Karp has any security clearance at all boggles the mind.

[flagged]

I feel like 95% of the hate he gets is because he is CEO of a firm whose Chairman is a fascist and whose role is driving democratic states into fascism, which as a person opposed to fascism (and incidentally on the spectrum) makes me happy.

Re: MoD sources warn Palantir role at heart of government is threat to UK security

#93

Post by watwut »

crimsoneer wrote: post #74

“Palantir does not need to own the data or even have stewardship. They can extract, transform and exploit the metadata to build their own rich picture.” Sorry, but this is full on into conspiracy theory here. Are we seriously arguing that Palantir are doing very much illegal analysis on air-gapped national security systems, and somehow exporting those and aggregating them? The exact same concerns could be articulated…

> Are we seriously arguing that Palantir are doing very much illegal analysis on air-gapped national security systems, and somehow exporting those and aggregating them?

Is there any reason to think they would not do something illegal? Or that they would be above exporting secret data?

Re: MoD sources warn Palantir role at heart of government is threat to UK security

#94

Post by hermitcrab »

bilbo0s wrote: post #78
dlev_pika wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fascism puts a heavy emphasis on aesthetics

Italian fascists did have fashion forward uniforms. So did the German Nazis back then now I think about it. Maybe there is something with cult-like thinking, fascist or not, where the aesthetics seduces more people into wanting to be a part of it all?

No doubt the smart uniforms, the rallies, the flags, the songs etc were a factor in many young men joining the SS.

Re: MoD sources warn Palantir role at heart of government is threat to UK security

#95

Post by dragonwriter »

kypro wrote: post #85
xvector wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could it be people dislike him because he enables anti-democratic capabilities like mass domestic surveillance, and enthusiastically supports an administration with little regard for the law?

What's the argument though, no security clearance for people who have the wrong politics? Also, Palantir only works with democratic countries for a reason... They might provide "anti-democratic capabilities", but by that definition any defence company or AI company wouldn't be liable for security clearance because they also provide capabilities which could be used in anti-democratic ways.

> Also, Palantir only works with democratic countries for a reason

Because democracy is the target they are aimed against, as Peter Thiel has openly said that he views “freedom”, the ideal he seeks (and which he clearly defines in an unusual way), as fundamentally incompatible with democracy.

It’s the fascist version of the old communist adage about capitalist democracies selling you the rope with which you will hang them, only in the fascist version the democracy buys the rope from you and hangs themself with it.

Re: MoD sources warn Palantir role at heart of government is threat to UK security

#96

Post by alephnerd »

cjbgkagh wrote: post #90
generic92034 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Similar to how other large military purchases are less about the military hardware and more of a client state subscription to ‘align interests’ such that the US is more likely to act in the donor countries interest. I have a feeling this is no longer a viable model. If "subscribers" get threatened every other day, they will be looking for alternatives.

So long as not subscribing is worse than subscribing countries will still do it. Even if it not in the interest of the country the decision makers can and do still get kickbacks / speaking engagements. It’s interesting to read of the ineffectiveness of influence the gulf states thought they had, though I think that speaks more to the relative cost effectiveness of tributes versus blackmail. These states don’t have th…

> read of the ineffectiveness of influence the gulf states thought they had

The primary players in the Gulf - Saudi and the UAE - have been aligned with the ongoing Iran strikes.

KSA's Mohammad Bin Salman has been lobbying Trump to strike Iran [0], just like his predecessor King Abdullah was doing [1]. Similarly, the UAE has an ongoing land dispute with Iran [2].

[0] - https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/02/28/trump-ira...

[1] - https://www.reuters.com/article/world/us-politics/cut-off-he...

[2] - https://www.uae-embassy.org/foreign-policy/occupied-uae-isla...

Re: MoD sources warn Palantir role at heart of government is threat to UK security

#97

Post by kakacik »

alephnerd wrote: post #84
generic92034 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Similar to how other large military purchases are less about the military hardware and more of a client state subscription to ‘align interests’ such that the US is more likely to act in the donor countries interest. I have a feeling this is no longer a viable model. If "subscribers" get threatened every other day, they will be looking for alternatives.

> they will be looking for alternatives. Who do "they" as in Europe go to? China also views the EU as a junior partner [0], is running an ongoing disinfo campaign against the industrial exports of an EU member state [1], and has doubled down on it's support for Russia [2] in Ukraine in return for Russia backing China's claim on Taiwan [3]. And the EU is uninterested in building domestic capacity for most critical tec…

They/we will go to domestic producers as much as possible, then China, then US, then rest of the world in that order. At least that would make a rational approach since (for now) unique things like f-35 can become an expensive paperweight on a whim of a lonely sick man. You can't build any sort of defense strategy on that, can you.

Re: MoD sources warn Palantir role at heart of government is threat to UK security

#98

Post by xyzzyz »

watwut wrote: post #59
kypro wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

It is his opinions and political goals. Not because he is maybe possibly on spectrum, which is something that does not make him any less awful.

His political goals seem to align pretty well with the goals of the democratically elected governments, which are perfectly happy to buy products and services from him. You might not agree with their goals, but it’s absurd to suggest that this should make him ineligible for clearance. Clearance is not some kind of a “good boy with right politics” certification, it’s rather “is this person trustworthy enough to depend on in the matters of national security”.

Re: MoD sources warn Palantir role at heart of government is threat to UK security

#100

Post by cjbgkagh »

alephnerd wrote: post #96
cjbgkagh wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So long as not subscribing is worse than subscribing countries will still do it. Even if it not in the interest of the country the decision makers can and do still get kickbacks / speaking engagements. It’s interesting to read of the ineffectiveness of influence the gulf states thought they had, though I think that speaks more to the relative cost effectiveness of tributes versus blackmail. These states don’t have th…

> read of the ineffectiveness of influence the gulf states thought they had The primary players in the Gulf - Saudi and the UAE - have been aligned with the ongoing Iran strikes. KSA's Mohammad Bin Salman has been lobbying Trump to strike Iran [0], just like his predecessor King Abdullah was doing [1]. Similarly, the UAE has an ongoing land dispute with Iran [2]. [0] - https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/02/…

So is it your stated position that the reason the US has decided to go to war with Iran is because of Saudi Arabia and the UAE?
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