Natasha Tusikov

British foreign office "The aid carried by the flotilla should be turned over to humanitarian organisations on the ground to be delivered safely into Gaza. "It is the responsibility of the Israeli government to resolve the atrocious humanitarian crisis in Gaza."

As leaders around the world respond to Israel's illegal abduction of humanitarians carrying aid to babies in Gaza, silence from Canada's @mark-carney.bsky.social
@anitaoakvilleeast.bsky.social, and yet they want us to believe this country has moral authority in the world?

Even the UK commented!

Solidarity from law profs down highway 2. That this reprehensible and dangerous action by U of A was apparently triggered by conservative media is appalling. The “protection” rationale trotted out by U of A (see also: forceful takedown of campus protests) is baseless and must be challenged.

Is CAUT @caut.bsky.social exploring the possibility of censure against U of T and UAlberta for punishing faculty for extramural speech and thus violating their academic freedom?

A horrifying case of censorship by @ualberta.bsky.social against a law prof commenting on Kirk's death. University failed to explain or justify why Ashley was removed from class. Explanation (& apology) needed from the uni, & protection for faculty & academic freedom. @caut.bsky.social fyi

#standwithstudents #gaza #pssar #university #canada | PSSAR Network We will not give up calling on our Canadian government to follow the steps taken to evacuate those students by the UK, France, Italy, and Ireland. We call on Prime Minister Mark Carney: Do not fail t...

It is frankly shocking and embarrassing that the Canadian government is dragging its feet on processing visas for these Palestinian students at risk. Get with the program, folks. www.linkedin.com/posts/pssar_...

The New Knowledge From the global geopolitical arena to the smart city, control over knowledge-particularly over data and intellectual property-has become a key battleground for…

I and my co-author @ntusikov.bsky.social offer an answer that question in our book, The New Knowledge (open access). Long story short: the digital tech-driven downgrading of scientific knowledge by the belief that statistical correlation on its own is a superior form of knowledge.

Seriously... Cohere that snuggled up to Peter Thiel and his "Algorithmically Accelerated Killing Machine”? Do better Canada's AI task force and please pay attention to the agenda of your partners: techcrunch.com/2024/12/16/c...

This. Precisely this. Every day of the week.
Which makes it all the more troubling that despite the ever-increasing number of warning signs, Canada's Prime Minister and his Minister for AI have gone all-in on the hype. They're buying at the top of the bubble, and Canada will be worse off for it.

I'm sure Canada's just-announced AI Task Force and Cohere, the AI company tasked with identifying governmental uses for AI, will be all over this report.

A consensus is forming: Israel must be banned by FIFA and UEFA for its ongoing genocide in Gaza.

The Real Cyber War

All of this is a long way of saying that if you want to understand how SV got to Trump, and SV-state linkages, Shawn Powers and Michael Jablonski's The Real Cyber War (2015) remains essential reading.

I draw on it heavily for this 2022 oped: www.cigionline.org/articles/sho....

I Thought I Knew Silicon Valley. I Was Wrong Tech got what it wanted by electing Trump. A year later, it looks more like a suicide pact.

One thing missing from this story, which complicates the narrative US tech & tech activists like to tell about themselves: The US tech sector has always been highly dependent on the US state. Them bending the knee to Trump is no more surprising than, say, Boeing continuing to deliver fighter jets.

The act of recognition is not enough. It will not automatically end Israel’s unlawful occupation of Palestine. To accomplish that, recognition must be backed by meaningful economic pressure against Israel, including sanctions. Read our full statement: www.cjpme.org/pr_2025_09_2...

I was taken aback when I first heard the news of this. Good to hear that several MPs did not stand to honour Kirk. One can have their private views on such matters and share them w/ friends & colleagues as you wish, but the Parliament of Canada is no place to honour someone so hostile to democracy.

Kneecap banned from Canada for ‘glorifying terrorist organisations’ The Belfast rap trio said they would be taking legal action against the ‘deeply malicious’ allegations

Utterly ridiculous decision to ban the Irish group, #Kneecap, from #Canada... this is not about dealing with hatred, it's about patronizing and paternalistic restriction of freedom of political speech and artistic expression.

www.theguardian.com/music/2025/s...

So much of what @bhaggart.bsky.social says here has been on my mind. Canada can't manufacture and pipeline itself away from what is happening south of the border. And using AI tools to increase public sector "production" is not going to solve things either.

Ottawa is talking about building a sovereign cloud but what does that even mean? When Carney revealed initial batch of projects Canada aims to fast-track, he mused about another endeavour that didn’t make the list: a sovereign cloud.

“‘One issue with the current cloud market that we have is that it is highly concentrated. There are only a very few companies offering these services,’ [Guillaume] Beaumier said.”

Telus is jumping into the AI compute race with Nvidia chips - The Logic The telecom giant will start with a small cluster at a Quebec data centre, but plans to expand as demand grows.

Genuine question: Why is Telus’ Canadian “Sovereign AI Factory” built with American chips?

Carney recommends 5 'nation-building projects' for approval, including LNG expansion | CBC News The initial tranche of major projects the federal government will help get off the ground quickly include expanding liquefied natural gas production in B.C. and upgrading the Port of Montreal, Prime M...

It’s unfortunate that “major infrastructure” doesn’t figure innovation-focused digital, media, or cultural infrastructure.

It’s all ressource extraction and energy—as if Canada had undone the 20th century and returned to the 19th.

Opinion: Canada’s new Minister of AI must not be naive to its harms AI is not just being deployed to expand human understanding, but to systematically subvert it as well

"A tsunami of AI-enabled disinformation is already upon us, polluting the public sphere and seeping back into the language models that AI systems feed upon. What to do?"

My latest oped in @theglobeandmail.com 👇

www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...

Great oped from @rondeibert.bsky.social from the @citizenlab.ca calling on Canada's new AI minister to stop naively cheerleading & start making policing on AI in today's Globe & Mail. "The Minister of AI should be mitigating these risks, rather than naively championing the tech behind it all."

Russian dissidents in ICE custody warn of deportation back to Russia unless Canada intervenes ICE has already sent at least 80 people back to Russia this summer. Activists say a third mass-deportation flight is expected in the coming weeks

Russian dissidents denied asylum in the U.S. fear deportation back into the arms of Putin’s security services - unless Canada intervenes.

“I hope that Canada will accept us, because all the world is going crazy and I hope that Canada won’t be.”

My report

The New Knowledge From the global geopolitical arena to the smart city, control over knowledge-particularly over data and intellectual property-has become a key battleground for…

This fits really well with Susan Strange’s conception of interlocking forms of structural power. Dominant structures (previously finance, now knowledge/tech) impose their logics on society.
FWIW, @ntusikov.bsky.social‘s and my book, The New Knowledge (OA), outlines the implications of this process.

There is no world in which a Canadian government intent on resisting US designs on Canada looks to a Republican fascist for advice. The advice you’re going to get won’t be in Canada’s interest, but Trump’s. Because he’s Trump’s guy.

If the Conservatives invited the (literal) fascist behind the destruction of US democratic state to their retreat, the pre-Carney Liberals would’ve rightly called on Poilievre to resign.
Mark Carney is not fit to lead Canada.

On Project 2025 invite: "would be beneficial for cabinet to hear Roberts's perspective and understand the White House's priorities"; also invited "artificial intelligence-focused venture capital firm."

Isn't Trump's fascist agenda backed by AI billionaires pretty clear? @mark-carney.bsky.social

Foreign affairs minister says she has 'utmost confidence' in ICC judge sanctioned by U.S. | CBC News Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said Tuesday that she’s spoken with a Canadian International Criminal Court judge who is facing U.S. sanctions — but made no mention of Washington’s actio...

The Carney government continues to tip-toe around Trump, the exact opposite of their promises during the campaign. The failure to explicitly condemn Trump's actions here is disgraceful. www.cbc.ca/news/politic...