COINTELPRO 2.0: Project Esther, EO 14243, and Palantir

The pattern is familiar, and the escalation is predictable. I warned about this recently, and now it’s unfolding exactly as anticipated.

From my May 22 post:

Just as I anticipated, the blame is being directed at China. Marco Rubio, currently serving in the Trump administration, has previously targeted various leftist organizations for their funding connections to Neville Roy Singham, who has been accused of having ties to the Communist Party of China. These allegations originated from front groups linked to Stratfor, often referred to as the “Shadow CIA,” as well as the State Department and U.S. Intelligence. Additionally, the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) receives backing from the Israel lobby. Recall my previous post about Project Esther, which linked antisemitism to Marxism. Expect a crackdown on leftists and other antiwar activists who are protesting the Gaza war.

On May 28, the Heritage Foundation—architect of Project Esther—officially embraced the narrative linking pro-Palestinian activism to Chinese influence.

The Heritage Foundation’s Project Esther is more than a framework—it’s a blueprint for ideological suppression masquerading as national security policy. By tying anti-Zionism to antisemitism, then layering in foreign influence accusations, the initiative sets the stage for a sweeping crackdown on dissent. Under the guise of national security, any challenge to U.S. policy—whether in opposition to the Gaza war or broader leftist movements—can be framed as a foreign threat. This justification makes mass surveillance not just palatable but necessary.

Enter Palantir—the data engine that makes ideological suppression scalable. While Heritage Foundation shapes the narrative and justification for crackdowns, Palantir provides the technical apparatus to execute them. As I warned in my earlier post, EO 14243 and Trump’s Data Consolidation: The Hidden Agenda Behind Big Tech Surveillance, Palantir is embedding digital IDs across DHS, IRS, and Social Security, consolidating surveillance under the guise of fraud prevention. These tools, once presented as safeguards against fraud, now serve a far clearer purpose: streamlining the targeting and suppression of leftist dissent. Heritage Foundation supplies the blueprint—Palantir builds the machinery.

This isn’t new. The playbook remains the same—COINTELPRO weaponized bureaucratic surveillance to neutralize Black liberation and leftist movements under the guise of national security. Now, Project Esther will leverage EO 14243’s infrastructure to fuse ideological suppression with the mechanics of automated surveillance. Just as COINTELPRO framed activists as subversives to justify government crackdowns, Project Esther weaponizes accusations of extremism and foreign influence to achieve similar ends. The targets have shifted, but the machinery of repression remains intact.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Another Communist leader, Georgi Buiko, arrested in Ukraine

This is the “democracy” and “freedom” that our tax dollars are supporting! 🤬

Mikhail and Aleksander Kononovich with Georgy Buiko.*

On Aug. 16, Ukraine’s secret police force—the SBU, or Security Service of Ukraine—announced it had arrested Georgi Buiko, a veteran Communist Party member and leader of the Ukrainian Anti-Fascist Committee. Officials accused him of participating in “anti-Ukrainian activities” and of possessing communist and “pro-Kremlin” publications in his home.

Another Communist leader, Georgi Buiko, arrested in Ukraine

Related:

*That story will be depends on us – Mikhail Kononovich:

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50 years after Chile’s coup, Salvador Allende’s grandson speaks about Britain’s role in the rise of Pinochet

Margaret Thatcher with Chilean dictator, General Augusto Pinochet
(Reuters)

In Santiago, Declassified spoke with Pablo Sepúlveda Allende about Margaret Thatcher’s friendship with Chile’s dictator and how Labour helped him evade justice for crimes against humanity.

50 years after Chile’s coup, Salvador Allende’s grandson speaks about Britain’s role in the rise of Pinochet

Related:

The end of Allende

Chile, September 11, 1973: The Horrors of ‘the First 9/11’ Are Routinely Overlooked

Salvador Allende’s Final Speech on Sept. 11, 1973

Each September large memorials are held for the 9/11 attacks on the US. Yet few recall the far more destructive 9/11 that occurred 28 years before.

Chile, September 11, 1973: The Horrors of ‘the First 9/11’ Are Routinely Overlooked

Related:

Chile and the United States: Declassified Documents Relating to the Military Coup, September 11, 1973

The Atlas Network and the Building of Argentina’s Donald Trump

Yves here. We’re featuring a post from openDemocracy on Argentina’s primary results that had far-right candidate Javier Milei beating the candidates of the two parties that have been in power for two decades. The post is telling, and not in a good way. Milei does advocate extreme views (not that he can go as far as he likes since even if he won a plurality again, he would still be leading a coalition government). And too many commentators forget that voters regularly move to the right in bad economic times, which Argentina is certainly suffering. It’s that the piece depicts him as a Trumpian outsider/madman, when Nick Corbishley’s post right after the primary results were in describes Milei’s considerable, if sometimes seamy, establishment connections…including to the Kochs:

How Javier Milei Upset Argentina’s Political Status Quo

Previously:

Is Argentina’s presidential frontrunner Javier Milei US’ “boy?” Rejects China+Mercosur, embraces $$

Orinoco Tribune Editor: There Was a Coup Against Pedro Castillo in Peru + Some Notes

[2017] Libertarian Atlas Network Pushes Latin America Right

Ukrainian Police Tortured Kherson Residents for ‘Ties with Russia’

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has reportedly set up torture chambers in two police stations in Kherson – Dnieper and Komsomolsk – to deal with people who, according to the SBU, collaborated with the Russian authorities, a representative of law enforcement agencies, citing a source in the Ukrainian National Police, told Sputnik.

Ukrainian Police Tortured Kherson Residents for ‘Ties with Russia’