Palantir Supplies Advanced Warfare Tech To Ukraine

Palantir Technologies is a data company based in Denver, Colorado. The company, led by renowned invester Peter Thiel and CEO Alex Karp, has been called a “controversial data company” for the company’s views on international politics and how it conducts business around the world.

Palantir also made headlines on Wall Street when the company went public in September 2020, filing its initial public offering (IPO) during the global covid-19 pandemic under the ticker PLTR.

At Davos 2023, CEO Alex Karp spoke with CNBC reporters about how software tipped the balance in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

About the company’s purpose, Karp said: “We built our company, and I believe in adressing the world as it is…I’m pessimistic of the near-future; very optimistic about what we can do to help that.”

The company is certainly doing its part by assisting Ukraine with advanced capabilities in collecting data for humanitarian purposes. And in this case, it is vital to the case being built against Russian president Vladimir Putin for committing alleged war crimes in the country’s “special military operation” against Ukraine.

According to a latest report by CNBC, Palantir is supplying some of Ukraine’s most advanced software capabilities with the intent to gather evidence for the prosecution of Russia’s alleged war crimes. What exactly is Palantir supplying Ukraine? Well, only the most advanced modern technologies in today’s changing landscape of international conflict, such as satellite imagery and IT solutions. Satelittle imagery has been a controversial topic in its own right, as the technology has been used to investigate China for its alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang.

As for the war in Ukraine, Andriy Kostin, the prosecutor general for Ukraine, said: “Analyzing this amount of evidence would be virtually impossible without modern IT solutions.”

While modern IT has become crucial to the international judiciary process, and apparently for waging war, there are still many hurdles to overcome for the ICC’s case against president Putn. In order for Vladimir Putin to be charged with war crimes against humanity, there has to be an arrest made in a country that belongs under international criminal court (ICC) jurisdiction. So while the data is supposedly capturing the right evidence, the jurisdictional issues are going to be key to any of the possible outcomes for successful prosecution. Just remember that this is an ICC case, which means that rules in international law courts — The Hauge — will prevail.

I have provided some of the key quotes from Palantir CEO Alex Karp speaking with NGO ‘Strong Together” journalist and head at the Baltic Miltech Summit ’23 held in Vilnius, Lithuania on 25 April 2023.

• Company’s mission — “I see a correlation, which, frankly, no one is Silicon Valley saw, but what I think is true, between deep beliefs in defense and a vibrant tech community.”
• On the system called “Kill Chain” — “Using algorithims to target or [sic] to change your supply chain and enterprise, the key issue for democracies…”
• About “AI and AI Warfare” — Are you going to be like Oppenheimer? “Yes, but Oppenhemier got to feel bad about it because he was alive. In the absence of our adversaries, maybe a lot of the things we provide shouldn’t be built, but, it’s like: they will build them or we will build them.”
• War Crimes Prosecution and Legal Elements — “What our product allows you to do, and the reason why it was adopted so widely in Europe, is it allows you to segment and tag the data. So you could show the war crime and then only show the data that the court allows to come into court…You can rework the whole stack and show it in a visual way, so very, very useful for prosecutions.”
• On the meeting with Ukraine’s President Zelensky — “I was honoured to go [to Ukraine], also that we had been supporting their efforts from the beginning. I guess I failed in embarrasing other tech people to go, but it is very dangerous.”

On March 3, 2022, the ICC began their investigation into the alleged war crimes committed by the Russian Federation against “civilians” or “civilian objects” in Ukraine. This implies that Russia’s ongoing military invasion of Ukraine is being targeted with International Humanitarin Law, which shall apply to all actions committed in light of events dating back to Feburary 24, 2022.

Since the ICC’s investigation, there have been numerous reports about how a trial against president Putin could be carried out at the international level.

The James Town Foundation published an in-depth look at how president Putin could be eventually arrested outside of Russia’s and the post-Soviet Union countries’ borders. For instance, when Putin travels to South Africa to attend a BRICS meeting in August 2023 — this could be an opportunity for the ICC to have him offically arrested for the alleged war crimes against Ukraine.

Drawing parallels to the Nuremberg Trials, where former leaders of the Nazi Germany’s Third Reich were prosecuted for war crimes in 1945, James Town offers that the concept of “might makes right” in the system of international relations and governance should not hold up any longer.

That’s why the case against Putin is being held to the highest standards of international law practice in the 21st century. The outcome of this case — if there is one — will absolutely set a new standard for international conflict in the decades ahead.

I began this week by publishing a content series about American CEOs and their recent meeting with US foreign policy leaders. Without a doubt, after Covid-19 there’s a divergence between American business and foreign policy interests on doing future business in China.

In the second part of the content series, I shared details about the Russia-Ukraine conflict and some of the ongoing dynamics at play, particularly the war crimes prosecution case being built against Russia president Vladmir Putin.

It’s unfortunate that we live in this hyped-up world where international conflict gets so much attention — as with what’s happening in Sudan now — but, what’s worse, is how media and advanced technologies are playing a deadly role in the outcomes of domestic conflicts.

Advanced technologies being supplied for today’s war and conflict are one of the core reasons why Palantir Technologies — a data company — exist today. It begs some questions about the future: How is the evolution between politics and technology having an impact on geopolitical trends? How are those geopolitical trends having an impact on society by fueling hatred between people and leaders? To know more, just look at how CEOs around the world are facing a rise in domestic crime, food inflation and geopolitical tensions.

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