Government shutdowns, AI hypocrisy, and the partitioning of Syria,

Defense and dual-use texhnologies

Good morning,

First, if you’re reading this post in your email, you’re going to want to open it in a browser. Otherwise, you’re going to miss some stuff (mostly memes at the end; you know, the good stuff).

Alright, Israel has occupied parts of Syria as a ‘temporary’ buffer. Turkey is building up its military along the Syrian border, sparking concerns that it may make an incursion into the northern part of the country. This would likely be a somewhat punitive operation (at least in Erdoğan’s eyes) attacking Kurds. Meanwhile, Ahmed al-Sharaa, the head of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group that led the opposition conquest of Syria and now the country’s de facto leader, has attempted to provide assurances that it doesn’t seek to fight anyone else. He has highlighted that Syria is exhausted from its long civil war and promises that no attacks against Israel will come from Syria. He has also assured the West that he is not seeking to export any attacks into Europe or elsewhere.

In Congress…