TouchMe @TouchMeEU

@NVIDIAGeForce #RTXPowersPlay

Because we get asked a lot. The Technological Republic, in brief. 1. Silicon Valley owes a moral debt to the country that made its rise possible. The engineering elite of Silicon Valley has an affirmative obligation to participate in the defense of the nation. 2. We must rebel against the tyranny of the apps. Is the iPhone our greatest creative if not crowning achievement as a civilization? The object has changed our lives, but it may also now be limiting and constraining our sense of the possible. 3. Free email is not enough. The decadence of a culture or civilization, and indeed its ruling class, will be forgiven only if that culture is capable of delivering economic growth and security for the public. 4. The limits of soft power, of soaring rhetoric alone, have been exposed. The ability of free and democratic societies to prevail requires something more than moral appeal. It requires hard power, and hard power in this century will be built on software. 5. The question is not whether A.I. weapons will be built; it is who will build them and for what purpose. Our adversaries will not pause to indulge in theatrical debates about the merits of developing technologies with critical military and national security applications. They will proceed. 6. National service should be a universal duty. We should, as a society, seriously consider moving away from an all-volunteer force and only fight the next war if everyone shares in the risk and the cost. 7. If a U.S. Marine asks for a better rifle, we should build it; and the same goes for software. We should as a country be capable of continuing a debate about the appropriateness of military action abroad while remaining unflinching in our commitment to those we have asked to step into harm’s way. 8. Public servants need not be our priests. Any business that compensated its employees in the way that the federal government compensates public servants would struggle to survive. 9. We should show far more grace towards those who have subjected themselves to public life. The eradication of any space for forgiveness—a jettisoning of any tolerance for the complexities and contradictions of the human psyche—may leave us with a cast of characters at the helm we will grow to regret. 10. The psychologization of modern politics is leading us astray. Those who look to the political arena to nourish their soul and sense of self, who rely too heavily on their internal life finding expression in people they may never meet, will be left disappointed. 11. Our society has grown too eager to hasten, and is often gleeful at, the demise of its enemies. The vanquishing of an opponent is a moment to pause, not rejoice. 12. The atomic age is ending. One age of deterrence, the atomic age, is ending, and a new era of deterrence built on A.I. is set to begin. 13. No other country in the history of the world has advanced progressive values more than this one. The United States is far from perfect. But it is easy to forget how much more opportunity exists in this country for those who are not hereditary elites than in any other nation on the planet. 14. American power has made possible an extraordinarily long peace. Too many have forgotten or perhaps take for granted that nearly a century of some version of peace has prevailed in the world without a great power military conflict. At least three generations — billions of people and their children and now grandchildren — have never known a world war. 15. The postwar neutering of Germany and Japan must be undone. The defanging of Germany was an overcorrection for which Europe is now paying a heavy price. A similar and highly theatrical commitment to Japanese pacifism will, if maintained, also threaten to shift the balance of power in Asia. 16. We should applaud those who attempt to build where the market has failed to act. The culture almost snickers at Musk’s interest in grand narrative, as if billionaires ought to simply stay in their lane of enriching themselves . . . . Any curiosity or genuine interest in the value of what he has created is essentially dismissed, or perhaps lurks from beneath a thinly veiled scorn. 17. Silicon Valley must play a role in addressing violent crime. Many politicians across the United States have essentially shrugged when it comes to violent crime, abandoning any serious efforts to address the problem or take on any risk with their constituencies or donors in coming up with solutions and experiments in what should be a desperate bid to save lives. 18. The ruthless exposure of the private lives of public figures drives far too much talent away from government service. The public arena—and the shallow and petty assaults against those who dare to do something other than enrich themselves—has become so unforgiving that the republic is left with a significant roster of ineffectual, empty vessels whose ambition one would forgive if there were any genuine belief structure lurking within. 19. The caution in public life that we unwittingly encourage is corrosive. Those who say nothing wrong often say nothing much at all. 20. The pervasive intolerance of religious belief in certain circles must be resisted. The elite’s intolerance of religious belief is perhaps one of the most telling signs that its political project constitutes a less open intellectual movement than many within it would claim. 21. Some cultures have produced vital advances; others remain dysfunctional and regressive. All cultures are now equal. Criticism and value judgments are forbidden. Yet this new dogma glosses over the fact that certain cultures and indeed subcultures . . . have produced wonders. Others have proven middling, and worse, regressive and harmful. 22. We must resist the shallow temptation of a vacant and hollow pluralism. We, in America and more broadly the West, have for the past half century resisted defining national cultures in the name of inclusivity. But inclusion into what? Excerpts from the #1 New York Times Bestseller The Technological Republic: Hard Power, Soft Belief, and the Future of the West, by Alexander C. Karp & Nicholas W. Zamiska techrepublicbook.com

Pride rises at the lowest place on earth 🌈 This June the Dead Sea becomes Pride Land, the biggest LGBTQ+ festival ever in the Middle East. Four days of nonstop celebration community and connection. Israel celebrates its LGBTQ+ community bigger than ever 💙

"People on twitter think Russians are humans" "Aaaaaaahhhh, please stop, it's too scary"

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We are receiving increasing reports of large-scale document destruction from various ministries, affiliated institutions, and companies close to Fidesz.

Funny how “freedom” starts to mean “unrestricted access to children’s screen time” the moment platforms are involved.

Wall Street Mav @WallStreetMav

6 months ago

The European Union is trying to claim this is about “protecting children”. In reality this is about eliminating anonymity so they can arrest anyone who posts opinions they disagree with.

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We Need to Talk About Trump’s Narcissism Trump’s unchecked narcissism is destabilising global politics, yet we refuse to analyse it seriously. Every relationship Trump has - with Putin, Starmer, Macron, Zelensky - is shaped by his narcissism. For Trump, every act - from cutting taxes to pouting - is designed to satisfy his need for narcissistic supply. The kind of narcissism I am talking about is not a personality “trait” like greed or vanity. It is a personality disorder: a deep denial of mental and emotional reality which leaves Trump relating to the world with a child’s view of adult capabilities. We usually avoid discussing the mental disorders of public figures. But this taboo is no longer defensible. As our democracies decline, we risk electing increasingly disturbed individuals. When someone holds the power to dismantle democracy or start a war, the public has a right to scrutinise their psychological condition. Narcissism and Power: the Oval Office ambush At the heart of narcissistic personality disorder is an insatiable need for narcissistic supply. There is positive supply - for instance, receiving adulation. There is negative supply, sometimes called sadistic supply - the need to be seen as omnipotently destructive, to command a kind of dark admiration. Recall Trump’s theatre of cruelty with Zelensky in the Oval Office. Trump demanded gratitude while calling Zelensky a dictator, blaming him for Putin’s invasion, and scheming to extract Ukraine’s natural resources. This was about sadistic narcissistic supply: being seen across the world as the master of Zelensky’s misery. Narcissists divide people into two groups: people they idealise, and people they dismiss. In Trump’s mental world, Putin is idealised. Trump invites Putin into an idealised society of his own creation. Zelensky, on the other hand, is in the non-idealised group. Zelensky does not meet Trump’s needs for narcissistic supply, and therefore, for Trump, does not exist. During the Oval Office meeting, J.D. Vance sensed that Trump was running dry on narcissistic supply. His intervention from the sidelines framed Zelensky as ungrateful and disrespectful, creating a new dynamic in which Trump could torment him - converting frustrated narcissistic need into the satisfaction of sadistic narcissistic supply. Putin Stabilises Trump’s Inner World Narcissism is often misunderstood as simple self-obsession. This is wrong. The opposite of narcissism is not care for others - that is the opposite of sociopathy. The opposite of narcissism is authenticity, and by extension, growth - being real and looking inward to find a steady self inside. My philosophical hero Richard Wollheim called this “seeing in”. When Trump looks inside, he finds nothing. There is no “I” there. Only a false self that craves narcissistic supply as a means of self-regulation. Because Trump has a false self, he cannot grow. He lives the same day over and over. He accumulates no lessons or burdens. When Trump is exposed to human suffering, he recognises what is shown to him, but has no correlate emotional response. Trump doesn’t carry anything - whether it’s Ukraine, Gaza, or even Melania. Narcissistic Submission For the narcissist, life is theatre organised around perceptions of authority. Trump either dominates - staging spectacles of humiliation and control - or submits. When he submits, he aligns himself with special figures so he can bask in the fake glory he attributes to them. I call this “narcissistic submission”. Psychoanalyst Christopher Bollas talks similarly about “the narcissistic contract’: “I promote you as exalted”, welcome you into my “world of idealisation” and then “bask in the radiant light of the idealised object”. If you’ve encountered narcissists, you know they often exaggerate others’ achievements so they can bask in their glow. This explains why Trump rolls out the red carpet for Putin. Trump is not interested in the real Putin. He is incurious about him. But he is attached to an idealised image of Putin, soaking up its radiant glow. Criticism of Putin is therefore not merely a political problem for Trump. He experiences criticism of Putin as an attack on himself, an undermining of the idealised world on which he depends for self-regulation. Trump’s Manipulability Trump is easy to manipulate because his false self leaves him without true direction. He is not goal-oriented. Trump holds very few steady beliefs, most of which he has maintained since the 1980s. Beyond those, his mental life is not organised around beliefs but around fleeting dispositional states which come and go. If something promises to feed his narcissistic hunger, he will pursue it. The ideal manipulator of a narcissist is a non-narcissistic psychopath - somebody strategic, goal-oriented, and unburdened by a false self. Unfortunately, Putin fits this description to some extent. Putin may not be a psychopath. But he is a master of sociopathy with pronounced psychopathic traits. His narcissistic tendencies are there, but they do not amount to a personality disorder. This creates an asymmetrical relationship. Trump uses Putin for emotional self-regulation. Putin uses Trump to achieve real political goals in the world. Worse still, Trump’s narcissism appears to be amplified by forms of neurodiversity, including traits commonly associated with ADHD. Neurodiversity itself is not the problem - many of the most ethical and capable individuals in history were neurodivergent. The danger lies in the interaction: when narcissistic pathology is combined with ADHD traits, the result can be explosive. In Trump’s case, this interaction intensifies the liabilities of his narcissism - heightening impulsivity, contrarian reflexes, and an inability to disengage from fixations once they take hold. Let’s now draw some lessons. Lesson One Our culture amplifies narcissism, sociopathy, and even psychotic thinking. Social media floods us with tragedy, fuelling both sociopathic detachment and a psychology of moral disgust at the ghastliness of the world that makes us want to depart politics. Post-truth politics weakens our grip on reality and fuels psychotic patterns of thought: when we find reality so unbearable that we destroy the world in our minds in order to bear it. This helps explain the psychological appeal of Trumpism. In turn, consumerism twists our search for truth into self-obsession, normalising and amplifying narcissism. We shop for the news that matches our identity. This transforms politics because societies that are sick elevate sick people into positions of power. Lesson Two We rarely link personal psychology to large-scale problems. The psychological professions focus on private life and ignore politics. The professional study of politics largely ignores psychology. We urgently need more psychological insight into our relationships mediated by the institutions we share. When our institutions get sick, they corrupt mass psychology, which further corrupts institutions. Left unchecked, this cycle accelerates. Lesson Three Many of the daily messages we are exposed to online are psychically destructive. They leave us feeling unsafe, powerless, and lost - with a fractured sense of reality. This generates another vicious cycle: destructive communication disinhibits us to produce ever more destructive communication. Segregated mental and factual worlds multiply, in which destructive acts no longer appear destructive at all. Lesson Four Don’t vote for narcissists. They distort reality and use you for their gain. They act malevolently when it suits them and endanger your country. It is indeed true that most leaders have narcissistic traits. But most do not have narcissistic personality disorder. This distinction matters politically and should not be used as an excuse to vote for narcissists. And don’t vote for psychopaths - a warning that will become even more important in the 2030s, as post-truth authoritarian buffoons like Trump give way to colder, more disciplined authoritarians like Orban. The Ideological Dimension Everything above concerns psychology. But psychology is not the whole story. Trumpism and Putinism are two versions of the same global ideology. Both embrace a monarchist, “might is right” worldview, with elements of fascisation. Both approach the world as a market in which everything can be bought, and what can’t be bought, can be taken by force. I discuss the ideological link between Putinism and Trumpism in a dedicated video, and a video version of the psychological argument in this essay is also available on YouTube.

🇫🇷 Macron: To remain free, we must be feared. To be feared, we must be powerful. And to be powerful in this world so brutal, we must act faster and act stronger.

X now has to fix its AI tool in the EU - and they have to do it quickly. If not, we will not hesitate to put the DSA to its full use to protect EU citizens.

Let me get this straight: 640 million Europeans (from high income countries) asking 320 million Americans, to defend against 150 million Russians (middle income country) Europe needs to understand that it can no longer just ride on the coat tails of Uncle Sam and American sons and daughters

Zohran Mamdani’s inauguration ceremony included: — the socialist anthem “bread and roses” — socialist wife ironically wearing posh $650 footwear — attendance by Mahmoud Khalil — deleting pro-Jewish tweets left behind by the prior administration Am I missing anything?

Zohran Mamdani has only been @NYCMayor for 16 hours and he has already broken the law by deleting posts from the official Mayoral account. Of course, those posts related to the response to rising Antisemitism.

As we start the New Year 2026, you can count on me and my team to continue working relentlessly to make Europe stronger. Stronger at home, by fully mobilising Europe’s extraordinary potential for competitiveness and innovation in a world that is changing faster than ever. Stronger on the global stage, by forging new partnerships and standing up for the values our friends and allies count on us to defend: openness, good faith and democracy. Speaking from the bottom of my heart, my wish for 2026 is peace. A just and lasting peace for Ukraine. For nearly four years, the Ukrainian people have shown extraordinary courage under the fire of an unprovoked war. We wish them and all people across the world peace, well-deserved peace, in 2026.

“But on July 2, as the train approached the Ukrainian border, a new order came in to the U.S. military’s European Command: ‘Divert everything. Immediately.’ Exactly why the liberated shells had been taken captive again was never explained.” The overall Russiagate narrative that Trump was on Putin’s side turned out to be completely correct. nytimes.com/interactive/20…

‼️BREAKING: ZELENSKYY RESPONDED TO INDIAN PM AND OTHERS WHO UNFAIRLY CONDEMNED UKRAINE FOR A STAGED ATTACK ON PUTIN'S DACHA "You know what honestly causes confusion and, well, uncomfortable feelings? That representatives from India, the Emirates, and several other countries condemned supposed drone strikes on Putin's residence that never even happened. But where's their condemnation? By the way, condemnation of the fact that they're bombing our children and killing our people this whole time. I don't hear anything from India or the Emirates about that, to be honest," - Zelenskyy said to journalists on Tuesday, Dec. 30.

For far too long, Europe has been weak in implementing its own laws and defending its own interests. You have chosen to cosy up tyrants and confront democracies. The time has come for us to stand up. Kneel as much as you want in front of Putin, we are the free world now.

Secretary Marco Rubio @SecRubio

10 months ago

For far too long, ideologues in Europe have led organized efforts to coerce American platforms to punish American viewpoints they oppose. The Trump Administration will no longer tolerate these egregious acts of extraterritorial censorship. Today, @StateDept will take steps to

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The US criticises Europe for lack of free speech - the same US where this week the most famous news programme on CBS, now owned by a Trump supporter, pulls a report critical about Trump's key policy

I choose the federalisation of Europe. 🇪🇺

Léon Chaland 🇪🇺 @LeonChaland

10 months ago

Europe has two choices: federalisation, or vassalisation

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We are witnessing something that until very recently seemed utterly unimaginable. The existing world order is collapsing before our eyes - quite literally within hours. The outgoing year has been a turning point for the Western alliance, but the coming year will be even more turbulent. If Europe and America are pushed to opposite poles and our adversaries succeed in dividing Europe from within, a tectonic-scale transformation will unfold, one that will prove equally dramatic for the entire Western world. The solution: abandon the illusions of false peace, prepare for the fight, and win. Ukraine’s fate is pivotal.