Photograph Source: Sgt. Benjamin Whitten – Public Domain
‘Just got back from London,’ comedian Toby Foster posted online last week in a rare but welcome moment of jocularity for the capital: ‘No one tried to nick my watch, no one mugged me, everyone in the shops spoke English, and most people smiled at me. It’s almost like X talks a load of rubbish. Best city in the world.’
If in the Dickens sense this is a tale of two cities as well as two or more continents, my excellent Afghan-Ukrainian friend Angelika Sharygina has just been in Paris for the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action—formerly Safety—Summit at the Grand Palais. I’ve written about Angelika—an AI expert with a conscience—before. She tells me the shift from AI Safety to AI Action makes clear that AI is now affecting everyone everywhere. ‘One of the biggest concerns is the unprecedented accumulation of power in the hands of a few players,’ she warned me. ‘AI is being built, controlled, and deployed by a handful of actors, and without proper oversight.’ Her biggest fear is that this will lead to monopolised influence over information, elections, even critical infrastructure.
Angelika was nonetheless upbeat about Current AI, a public interest initiative apparently backed by $400m and with plans to raise $2.5bn. It was launched by French president Macron with support from the likes of Finland, France, Germany, Chile, India, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Slovenia and Switzerland. It basically wants to widen access to high-quality datasets, support open-source AI, and drive AI development in areas like healthcare and climate solutions. ‘In a major push to break Europe’s AI dependence on the US and Chinese giants,’ added Angelika.
On JD Vance, who was grumbling in Paris about Europeans being over-cautious with AI, before his later grumbles about everything else European in Munich, she brilliantly said: ‘The idea that regulation stifles innovation is outdated. The real issue isn’t over-regulation; it’s the growing power imbalance where a handful of companies dictate the future of AI.’
Elsewhere, the runes continue to read badly for USAID. I came across USAID in Kenya a year ago. Now, 40,000 health workers there are about to lose their jobs. I met its American regional head at a Nairobi conference on Sudan at which an alternative constitution for the exiled Civil Democratic Forces (Tagadum) was being sought. He seemed an affable man with a lot on his plate, least of all because of a lack of clarity on his country’s part over what their Sudan policy actually was—at least one American ex-spook was calling publicly for support for SAF over RSF despite both groups being accused of widespread war crimes.
Regardless of what happens next, it has been a bleak undoing for USAID, with almost $500m of food aid now at immediate risk of spoilage. Whatever one’s views on previous waste, subterfuge, even macabre piggybacking, Marco Rubio’s promise of lifesaving elements being exempt has proved hollow—the pause has already been responsible for re-fuelling human trafficking. As six young men aged between 19 and 25 who are former interns or juniors at Musk’s Tesla and Starlink companies continue to cut $2,000 billion in public US spending, USAID has not, in fact, sent $50m of condoms to Gaza; has not, in fact, paid Chelsea Clinton $84m; has not, in fact, paid for celebs to go to Ukraine; has not, in fact, dished out millions in grants to Politico. It may have done many things, not that its critics would have seen any of this first-hand, but none of the above.
Further, US Secretary of Defence Hegseth was watched like a hawk in Munich. It was even under cruel scrutiny what was in his glass at one podium. But eyebrows were most raised when it became clear the US was finally stepping away from Europe. Nor was Republican armed services committee chair Roger Wicker the only person making the subsequent point that Hegseth had just given away a key bargaining chip by saying it was uncertain if Ukraine would regain its pre-war borders. (‘I don’t know who wrote the speech—it is the kind of thing Tucker Carlson could have written, and Carlson is a fool,’ Wicker reportedly said.) Russia meanwhile was stepping up its frontline attacks, and a Russian drone attack—flagged by Russia as a false flag operation—caused damage to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant radiation shelter.
One friend in the UK reckons Trump wants to split Russia from China. ‘China dwarfs Russia as a threat,’ he says. Russia will certainly be reintegrated into the world economy if the conflict ends. Another friend says he’s not buying what Trump is selling, and that ‘his senior staff are arrogant and ill-informed to say the least’. For what it’s worth, I’ve always wanted an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, just not without the involvement of Ukraine.
‘I’m not sure why the Brexiteers are all cheering Trump, Hegseth and Vance so loudly this morning,’ posted neighbour Dan Hodges (we share the same barber). ‘Brexit was sold in part on the basis we would pivot towards the United States on security and trade. That route has now been shut down. So where do we go next.’ In any case, what people see mostly is US appeasement with a man Danish intelligence believes is busily preparing an attack on an EU country. Alarmist cant or a point of no return?
JD Vance-target Rory Stewart—whose wife just lost $1 million of USAID funding last week—said: ‘Trump sees Foreign Policy only as deals between strongmen. He could not care less about the wishes of the people who live in Greenland, Gaza or Ukraine. He will have no international law, no self-determination, no development, no international order. And soon no allies.’ JD Vance in Munich only mentioned Ukraine in passing, which seemed odd, encouraging the view that the US really was aligning itself with Moscow. He also went on about free speech but as former MP Damian Collins posted: ‘One of the biggest dangers to democracy today is the weaponisation of social media spaces to flood the zone with lies and intimidation, in a regulatory environment where no-one is responsible.’ It’s a dilemma. Former prime minister John Major called Vance hypocritical and ‘not statesmanlike’ for lecturing on free speech while ‘cuddling’ Putin’s Russia. ‘It’s just not right that things are happening that really shouldn’t,’ said Major. At one point Vance warned of the loss of British values posing a greater threat than Russia. (I am finding it hard to believe I am writing this.)
German defence minister Boris Pistorius called Vance’s speech ‘unacceptable’. Historian, second neighbour (different barber) and former judge Jonathan Sumption described it as ‘silly and immature’. Carl Bildt said, ‘If the intention of the speech was to alienate Europe, I think it could be described as successful.’ Der Spiegel said Europe and the USA ‘are no longer on the same side.’ UK legal doyen Mark Stephens posted: ‘So in summary, America is losing: Healthcare, Education, Economy, Social Security, National/Global Security, Alliances, Soft Power, Trade Partners, Civil Servants, Ability to counter terrorism, Research, Health protections. And gained: “Gulf of America”.’
Not that we are error-free in London. At the beginning of last week I wanted to write about a Growing the Union event hosted by a local TUC—Trade Union Council—group. (Present defence secretary John Healey was a former campaign director for the TUC.) I wasn’t interested in a partisan inquiry; I just wanted to see how much life was left in the unions down south. Anyway, it was due to take place by a large hospital beneath what turned out to be a very cold and threatening grey sky. Nobody turned up. Not a soul. At the same time, hundreds of members of the traditionally more conservative NFU (National Farmers Union) had gathered in central London in order to block traffic in protest at the increased inheritance tax for farmers. (‘Don’t bite the hand that feeds you,’ read one of the placards.) Tragically, Welshman Saul Grayson, an independent journalist from Pembrokeshire, died in an ambulance blocked by some of the tractors used in the protest. The paramedics and emergency medical technicians were likely headed for St Thomas’s Hospital on the other side of Westminster Bridge. Despite comedian Toby Foster’s warm words at the top of the article, I guess London can’t always be the best city in the world.
