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Human Rights Watch says drone strikes in Haiti have killed nearly 1,250 people
- throwaway5752 7mo agoOf course it is Erik Prince's company. to clarify: Erik Prince founded Blackwater, of the Nisour Square Massacre infamy in the GW Bush administration. He is deeply tied to Republican politics, mercenary work, and particularly the Trump administration. He is IPOing an autonomous lethal drone company, Swarmer, and his other company, Vectrus, is behind the events of this article.
- logdahl 7mo agoHaven't heard this name before, would someone care to fill me in on a tl;dr? Sounds horrendous.
- daneel_w 7mo agoBlackwater, private "defense" contractor, track record of killing with impunity.
- mentalgear 7mo agoWhat do all the worst companies in the world have in common? Blackstone, Blackrock, Blackwater ..? Always that Black prefix, like something out of a bad action movie.
- peddling-brink 7mo agoWell, where do you think they got their ideas from?
- watwut 7mo agoWell, palantier dont have black in the name and is the same awful.
- TurdF3rguson 7mo agoPalantir is the seeing stone used by Sauron to do surveillance in LOTR
- bawolff 7mo agoI've always wondered if they just didn't get the reference or if they are just self-aware that they are evil. In the books its not just that sauron uses it for evil, he also can use it to turn anyone else that uses it evil.
- TurdF3rguson 7mo agoTo me it feels like an inside joke. Like there's one guy out there who pointed out that they're Sauron and they're fucking with him specifically.
- MidnightRider39 7mo agoThe Palantir themselves aren’t evil, they were made by the elves long before the events of LOTR. Essentially they are just a tool. However I heard that Thiels favourite book is the rewrite of LOTR from the perspective of Sauron, where Gandalf and the elves seek to destroy humanity and technology (at least that’s how I understood the gist, haven’t read it)
- compsciphd 7mo agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Ringbearer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Ringbearer
- oefrha 7mo agoTechnically the Palantiri were a force for good in the hands of Elves and Men, and could still be used for good, like Aragorn using it to challenge Sauron and forcing Sauron’s hand. So that’s a defense to the self-awareness argument. In fact that ambiguity is likely intentional. Btw I always wondered why I was seeing droves of Palantir swag on Stanford campus back in early 2010s. I wouldn’t wear something that has a 50%+ chance of being interpreted as evil.
- jayd16 7mo agoThe scoundrels at Black & Decker
- itsthecourier 7mo ago[flagged]
- carabiner 7mo agoTo be clear: https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/nx2yoe/a_guide_to_not_getting_confused_with_names_of/#lightbox https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/nx2yoe/a_guide_...
- bawolff 7mo agoBlackwater renames itself every so often to get away from the bad press, so its not in the name anymore. I dont know what blackrock did to be evil. Seems like a pretty generic company that sells basically every type of stock.
- vkou 7mo agoBlackrock provides management services for a significant percentage of all global wealth, which makes it an excellent target for: * People who think a cabal of reptilian globalists control the world. * People who think that capitalism is an emergent system that is destroying our culture, social cohesion, and environment.
- tekla 7mo agoBecause you have motivated reasoning to dislike these companies, even though Blackrock and Blackstone are bog standard financial services companies and a random naming scheme is easy to grab onto. All the worst companies seem to all be LOTR themed.
- cjbgkagh 7mo agoAlso Black Cube, I had a long list but seem to have misplaced it. Black seems to hint at secretive when you can say spy agency.
- RS-232 7mo agoLook into the black cube of Saturn. (btw, it’s everywhere, even the kaaba)
- input_sh 7mo agoPretty much private mercenaries that work outside of the usual army structure as "private contractors". They're usually the ones the US contracts to do the worst atrocities, as that gives the government a thin veneer of plausible deniability because they were behaving "independently". The US also does its best to make sure they never face any legal consequences for their war crimes. Also worth pointing out that, due to this "contractor" relationship, they never count towards official casualty figures. For example, if Iran were to kill 50k of them (I'm of course exaggerating to make a point), they wouldn't count towards US casualty figures, so it's also a way for the government to downplay the effects of foreign intervention to the general public.
- esseph 7mo ago> Also worth pointing out that, due to this "contractor" relationship, they never count towards official casualty figures. For example, if Iran were to kill 50k of them (I'm of course exaggerating to make a point), they wouldn't count towards US casualty figures, so it's also a way for the government to downplay the effects of foreign intervention to the general public. This has happened throughout history in war, before even recorded history. Russia is doing it right now with North Koreans. Also with Wagner Group, until they had their little uprising against Putin and then their plane happened to crash.
- jihadjihad 7mo ago> Blackwater, of the Nisour Square Massacre infamy in the GW Bush administration And sadly the infamy continued into the prior Trump administration. In 2020 Trump pardoned all four employees who had been convicted in 2014.
- vkou 7mo agoIf we can get AI further into this process, we can fully launder all responsibility from the humans ordering these.
- max_ 7mo agoThe human brain is largely for decoration. It's job is to cool blood and absorb "vapors" from food. Aristotle got it right. It is not largely capable of "thinking" We are proactively destroying human society. And many people are rallying behind it VCs investing in killing machines. Citizen's largely don't care, they are largely passive. It sort of reminds me of Richard Feynman who claimed he was extremely depressed. After the use of the atomic bomb. It was something very stupid for a so called genius to say. You work on a mass murder tool, then complain that a mass murder tool you worked on was used for mass murder.
- casey2 7mo agoDrones and atomic bombs have prevented more mass murder than they've been used for. The people doing the most to actually improve material conditions in the third world are constantly poo-pooed by people who profit off these places remaining impoverished. I think the NRxers are right here you need to go in there and crack skulls. Few will invest in long term skills if they aren't valuable. The simple fact: In these next 10 years Haiti will see more growth than the last 40 years, thanks in large part to this partnership.
- ericmay 7mo agoAtomic bombs, probably. Drones? I’m not so sure I’ve heard that specific discussion point before. Why would drones be any different than machine guns or fighter jets?
- casey2 7mo agoWhose going to participate in ethnic cleaning (or gangs) when they can be zapped from anywhere? It's a much larger deterrent
- aaron695 7mo ago[dead]
- itsthecourier 7mo ago"Haitian authorities must urgently take control of the security forces and the private companies working on their behalf before more children die,” said Juanita Goebertus, director of the Americas Program at Human Rights Watch." wow, such an insight, how didn't they think about that before? yeah, complaining about 1200 killings, without considering the rape/killings/displacement that would happen in their absence by Viv Ansamn
- adamiscool8 7mo agoThe title framing is weird when the report says maybe 5% of the 1250 were civilians, and the same rights group also reports more than 1500 civilians [0] killed over the same period in the horrific and rampant gang violence the government is using this technology to fight against. [0] https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2026/country-chapters/haiti https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2026/country-chapters/haiti
- havenbarnes 7mo ago[flagged]
- aaron695 7mo ago[dead]
- ghurtado 7mo agoNo, not dozens of Innocents. About 1500, which is a lot more. You should read the comment that you replied to again. You're railing against a fact, not an opinion.
- spacecadet 7mo agoPeople don't think anymore, they just react... Im pretty sure Im done engaging on this platform for that reason. Nearly every comment is met by some crass remark that clearly demonstrates the person didn't actually understand the comment, just reacted to the trigger words within it.
- nickff 7mo agoThis is best exemplified by all the comments (on varying posts) saying: 'I misread the title, and interpreted as X, haha!'. HN has unfortunately slid in the direction of Reddit (despite the HN Guidelines' denial of this).
- 7mo ago
- bawolff 7mo ago> Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Tuesday that drone strikes carried out in Haiti over the past year have killed at least 1,243 people, including 17 children, many of whom had no apparent links to the criminal groups the attacks seek to squash. > Launched by Haitian law enforcement forces and private contractors working for Vectus Global between March 1, 2025, and Jan. 21, 2026, the strikes also injured at least 738 people, according to the organization’s report. At least 49 of the injured appeared to have no ties to gangs or other criminal groups. The first paragraph made it sound like the majority were bystanders, while the second made it sound like it was 5%. Maybe that is still unacceptable collateral damage, but it'd be nice if the article was more specific than "many" so we know what we are actually talking about here.
- trhway 7mo agoMy understanding that 100% were killed extrajudicially. Only hope that when it comes to US the drones would carry Tasers.
- tokai 7mo agoI have no idea how Haitian law looks at it, but the UN Security Council grants the Gang Suppression Force a pretty clear mandate. They specifically authorized to neutralize, isolate, and deter gangs, search for and siege weapon, and prevent the loss of life and within the limits of its capacities and areas of deployment, adopt urgent temporary measures on an exceptional basis.[0] While emphasizing the need to apply arrests and detain offenders, they are allowed to strike back. Drones are useful as indirect fire support so if proper rules of engagement are followed, maybe some of those killing are lawful. [0] https://docs.un.org/en/S/RES/2793(2025) https://docs.un.org/en/S/RES/2793(2025)
- bawolff 7mo agoAt this point the situation in Haiti looks a lot like a war (non international armed conflict). I don't think extrajudicial is a term generally used for people killed during war.
- RobotToaster 7mo ago
- system7rocks 7mo agoIf you are a tech guy and working with drones or any AI company that has even a bare relationship to some security firm, you have a few options: 1 - Immediately share all information and intel with the public so as to spare any judicial accountability. 2 - Quit. 3 - Prepare to go to jail for the rest of your life. This is profoundly evil.
- odie5533 7mo agoOption 4 - Summon Shoggoth and no one exists to go to jail.
- SkinTaco 7mo agoGood thing I transitioned last year, I like my job
- Legend2440 7mo agoNo, let's not. I really don't want to live in a world where the bad guys have killer AI drones and we don't.
- cauefcr 7mo agoYou should take a hard look at who really is the bad guy.
- SkinTaco 7mo agoI suppose in the context of the article you're commenting on you're saying the bad people are the ones defending the women and children from being raped?
- rexpop 7mo ago"The use of drones in these areas causes more collateral damage among the civilian population than it truly neutralizes gangs."
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- system7rocks 7mo ago[flagged]
- Helloworldboy 7mo ago4. Just do your job and don’t listen to screeching harpies in the HN comments
- riffic 7mo agoextrajudicial killings? isn't that a sterile euphemism for murder?
- antonymoose 7mo agoWar is hell.
- datsci_est_2015 7mo agoI think vigilantism (to which I am personally morally opposed) also falls under the umbrella of “extrajudicial killing”, even though it is often not prosecuted as murder. Also any killings performed by law enforcement individuals outside of due process. Some recent famous cases in the US of both of those categories, for example.
- theoa 7mo agoIt bears remembering that all of this was reported by a group of Haitians in Brooklyn who publish and staff the Haitian Times. They deserve recognition for maintaining the standards of good journalism in what is, by any measure, a difficult era.