North Korea Increases Aid to Russia, Mos... Tue Nov 19, 2024 12:29 | Marko Marjanovi?
Trump Assembles a War Cabinet Sat Nov 16, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?
Slavgrinder Ramps Up Into Overdrive Tue Nov 12, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?
?Existential? Culling to Continue on Com... Mon Nov 11, 2024 10:28 | Marko Marjanovi?
US to Deploy Military Contractors to Ukr... Sun Nov 10, 2024 02:37 | Field Empty
Anti-Empire >>
Indymedia Ireland is a volunteer-run non-commercial open publishing website for local and international news, opinion & analysis, press releases and events. Its main objective is to enable the public to participate in reporting and analysis of the news and other important events and aspects of our daily lives and thereby give a voice to people.
Fraud and mismanagement at University College Cork Thu Aug 28, 2025 18:30 | Calli Morganite
UCC has paid huge sums to a criminal professor
This story is not for republication. I bear responsibility for the things I write. I have read the guidelines and understand that I must not write anything untrue, and I won't.
This is a public interest story about a complete failure of governance and management at UCC.
Deliberate Design Flaw In ChatGPT-5 Sun Aug 17, 2025 08:04 | Mind Agent
Socratic Dialog Between ChatGPT-5 and Mind Agent Reveals Fatal and Deliberate 'Design by Construction' Flaw
This design flaw in ChatGPT-5's default epistemic mode subverts what the much touted ChatGPT-5 can do... so long as the flaw is not tickled, any usage should be fine---The epistemological question is: how would anyone in the public, includes you reading this (since no one is all knowing), in an unfamiliar domain know whether or not the flaw has been tickled when seeking information or understanding of a domain without prior knowledge of that domain???!
This analysis is a pretty unique and significant contribution to the space of empirical evaluation of LLMs that exist in AI public world... at least thus far, as far as I am aware! For what it's worth--as if anyone in the ChatGPT universe cares as they pile up on using the "PhD level scholar in your pocket".
According to GPT-5, and according to my tests, this flaw exists in all LLMs... What is revealing is the deduction GPT-5 made: Why ?design choice? starts looking like ?deliberate flaw?.
People are paying $200 a month to not just ChatGPT, but all major LLMs have similar Pro pricing! I bet they, like the normal user of free ChatGPT, stay in LLM's default mode where the flaw manifests itself. As it did in this evaluation.
AI Reach: Gemini Reasoning Question of God Sat Aug 02, 2025 20:00 | Mind Agent
Evaluating Semantic Reasoning Capability of AI Chatbot on Ontologically Deep Abstract (bias neutral) Thought
I have been evaluating AI Chatbot agents for their epistemic limits over the past two months, and have tested all major AI Agents, ChatGPT, Grok, Claude, Perplexity, and DeepSeek, for their epistemic limits and their negative impact as information gate-keepers.... Today I decided to test for how AI could be the boon for humanity in other positive areas, such as in completely abstract realms, such as metaphysical thought. Meaning, I wanted to test the LLMs for Positives beyond what most researchers benchmark these for, or have expressed in the approx. 2500 Turing tests in Humanity?s Last Exam.. And I chose as my first candidate, Google DeepMind's Gemini as I had not evaluated it before on anything.
Israeli Human Rights Group B'Tselem finally Admits It is Genocide releasing Our Genocide report Fri Aug 01, 2025 23:54 | 1 of indy
We have all known it for over 2 years that it is a genocide in Gaza
Israeli human rights group B'Tselem has finally admitted what everyone else outside Israel has known for two years is that the Israeli state is carrying out a genocide in Gaza
Western governments like the USA are complicit in it as they have been supplying the huge bombs and missiles used by Israel and dropped on innocent civilians in Gaza. One phone call from the USA regime could have ended it at any point. However many other countries are complicity with their tacit approval and neighboring Arab countries have been pretty spinless too in their support
With the release of this report titled: Our Genocide -there is a good chance this will make it okay for more people within Israel itself to speak out and do something about it despite the fact that many there are actually in support of the Gaza
China?s CITY WIDE CASH SEIZURES Begin ? ATMs Frozen, Digital Yuan FORCED Overnight Wed Jul 30, 2025 21:40 | 1 of indy
This story is unverified but it is very instructive of what will happen when cash is removed
THIS STORY IS UNVERIFIED BUT PLEASE WATCH THE VIDEO OR READ THE TRANSCRIPT AS IT GIVES AN VERY GOOD IDEA OF WHAT A CASHLESS SOCIETY WILL LOOK LIKE. And it ain't pretty
A single video report has come out of China claiming China's biggest cities are now cashless, not by choice, but by force. The report goes on to claim ATMs have gone dark, vaults are being emptied. And overnight (July 20 into 21), the digital yuan is the only currency allowed.
The Saker >>
Sadiq Khan?s Officials Suppressed Report Showing LTNs Don?t Cut Car Use Fri Sep 19, 2025 11:00 | Will Jones
Sadiq Khan?s officials suppressed taxpayer-funded research that showed low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) do not reduce car use after the London Mayor spent five years baselessly claiming LTNs are good for the planet.
The post Sadiq Khan’s Officials Suppressed Report Showing LTNs Don’t Cut Car Use appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Europe?s Days of Carbon Colonialism are Numbered Fri Sep 19, 2025 09:00 | Tilak Doshi
The delusional EU believes it can wield carbon tariffs as weapons. But its grandiloquent Net Zero scheme is destined to collapse under the weight of the bloc's utter economic irrelevance, says Tilak Doshi.
The post Europe’s Days of Carbon Colonialism are Numbered appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
The Sceptic | Episode 51: Charlie Kirk, Free Speech and the Scourge of ?Anti-Fascism?, and Why Brits... Fri Sep 19, 2025 07:00 | Richard Eldred
In Episode 51 of the Sceptic: Michael Murphy on Charlie Kirk, free speech and the scourge of ?anti-fascism?, and Ben Pile on how the British public are going cold on global warming.
The post The Sceptic | Episode 51: Charlie Kirk, Free Speech and the Scourge of ?Anti-Fascism?, and Why Brits are Cooling on Global Warming appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
News Round-Up Fri Sep 19, 2025 01:07 | Richard Eldred
A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the ?climate emergency?, public health ?crises? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
We Shouldn?t Welcome Right-Wing Cancel Culture Thu Sep 18, 2025 19:00 | Noah Carl
The Right has spent much of the last decade railing against cancel culture, and was arguably winning the debate. It would be a mistake to abandon that position now.
The post We Shouldn?t Welcome Right-Wing Cancel Culture appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Lockdown Skeptics >>
Voltaire, international edition
Will intergovernmental institutions withstand the end of the "American Empire"?,... Sat Apr 05, 2025 07:15 | en
Voltaire, International Newsletter N?127 Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:38 | en
Disintegration of Western democracy begins in France Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:00 | en
Voltaire, International Newsletter N?126 Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:39 | en
The International Conference on Combating Anti-Semitism by Amichai Chikli and Na... Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:31 | en
Voltaire Network >>
international |
anti-war / imperialism |
opinion/analysis
Tuesday March 16, 2004 16:56
by Harpo G
printable version
Digg this
del.icio.us
Furl
Reddit
Technorati
Facebook
Gab
Twitter
View Comments Titles Only
save preference
Comments (9 of 9)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9You begin by stating 'Leave your politics at the door', followed by "Forget about Bush. Forget about Blair. Forget about oil. Forget about the motivation for the war. Is Iraq a better place now that Saddam has been ousted and a replacement regime is being put in place?" yet the next step completley contradicts the very call for discussion, namely, "The occupying force is still there so we do not yet have a true and fair picture of what Iraq is like now compared to under Saddam and his family."
Then you list questions to ask 'when the time is right', but when will that be? Memory never fades, so whatever stage Iraq will find itself in in ten years time you can rest assured that the politics of today will be very conscious in the minds, politics and actions of tomorrow's Iraqis.
And by the way, those questions are nothing but speculative rubbish with no sense of an empiricle grasp.
Editors, I hope you see fit to delete this rubbish.
....I suppose it qualifies under "Opinion / Analysis"; one of the headings in the publishing page.
My stab at answers....
(i) Probably will eventually.
(ii) Probably the same. Maybe a little more free.
(iii) Less safe.
(iv) Less free.
(v) Undoubtedly. As do many other world leaders (IMHO).
Basically, the new world order we have since the UNs will was flouted is not a good developement globally.
However, the average Iraqi citizen must be thanking their lucky stars, and hoping the US/UK will exit stage left ASAP and leave them be.
"And by the way, those questions are nothing but speculative rubbish with no sense of an empiricle grasp. "
They are just questions. Questions I have not seen answered elsewhere. Questions I have not seen asked elsewhere.
one cried, it is so difficult to describe the relief felt in this country where I am that the nightmare never reported in your mainstream media is over.
We couldn't even jump with joy when the votes were counted, the mobiles were still off, la haine was off line, indymedia servers overloaded caused more to think, oh no, they wont accept the result.
Now we have optimism that they will not spy on all of us more, that they will not come and scare us at night, that they will ignore those they hated the poor, the immigrant, the basque.
That optimism will take time.
Yes HB have offered the new government of Spain dialogue to achieve a political settlement to the Basque problem.
Yes okupes feel it less likely that the policia nacional will come with batons and guns through the window at dawn.
Yes republican activists feel it less likely that they will be harrassed and psychologically tortured in Catalonia, and worse in the Basque.
The bags over the head, gone.
The blatant lies from the TV gone.
Yes the witch is dead.
No you didn't realise how bad it was.
No you didn't realise how bad it looked like it was going to be. If we hadn't gone out on Saturday night all over this country, the PP might have won and it would have gone on and on, and got worse and worse.
And no one would have believed us.
They never did. After they would have finished with the Basques they would have moved on to every rojo every Catalanista every anarchist every "morro".
Visca Catalúnya!
Vive España!
Viva Euskal Herria!
our fear is gone.
Now I wish, pray and hope that this happens for the Iraqi people, for the Israeli people for the Palestinians, for the Italians.
when you finally wake up and walk out your door and feel "free" it is so sweet.
so so sweet.
sweetness and light.
Forget about Bush. Forget about Blair. Forget about oil. Forget about the motivation for the war.
What you really propose is that we forget about Iraq!
Whatever the state of Iraq and it's citizens at the moment in the abstract terms you propose it matters very little if they cannot walk the streets or have any say in the running of their country and the exploitation of its natural resources.
To be in any way fair you must compare pre-Gulf War Iraq, and not just Iraq two years ago, with what people there are faced with today. Rotten as the Bathists were, they did invest much of their country's oil dollars into the health care system and education. Western sanctions and constant bombing over the past thirteen years reduced their civilian infrastructure to rubble. And that was deliberate (Dennis Halliday called the sanctions "genocidal").
So there for we must ask, do Iraqis have access to the same level of education and health care as they did under the Butcher of Baghdad before 1990 (when the leaders of the free world destroyed it)?
Iraq
One year on
March 20th marks the first anniversary of the US led imperialist war on Iraq.
cwi statement
Despite the fall of the hated dictator, Saddam Hussein, quality of life has plummeted for the majority of Iraqis. Lawlessness grips the land. Young people face a life of grinding poverty and unemployment. Social infrastructure is in tatters and with no sign of real improvement. And now fears of ethnic and religious conflict, possibly leading to civil war, abound.
http://www.socialistworld.net/index.html
Here's another sophomoric insult to humanity:
"DISCUSS: economic improvements in Germany after Hitler took power."
Don't forget to ignore the people being killed, the lack of democracy, the people tortured.
The fact is we don't really know the answer to most of the questions except the world is certainly not a safer place. I don't think that is the point!
The only way to "win a war against terrorism" is not to wage it. Israel / Palestine , Northern Ireland etc. should prove this.
In 1972 Dr Garret Fitzgerald visited relatives and friends in Derry after bloody sunday and ordinary people were saying "isn't it great all the young lads are joining the IRA". This is being repeated all over the muslim world as a direct result of US imperialism.
Unfortunately innocent people on "both sides" will die while bush etc. sit in their ivory towers.
My question is where did Hussain get the $750,000 he was found with last year. I reckon the Republican party should ask for it back as they financed him in the 80s!!