Current and former Cisco workers have objected to the company’s role in the Gaza war, calling it a ‘shocking and complete contradiction of values’

Alice Speri

 

Sat 7 Nov 2026

 in The Guardian 

A ‘customer success story’: leaked documents show Cisco doubled down on Israeli military deals during Gaza war

Current and former Cisco workers have objected to the company’s role in the Gaza war, calling it a ‘shocking and complete contradiction of values’

Tech giant leaped to shore up relationship even as company was roiled by worker protest over its role in the war

A year into the war in Gaza, the networks of Israel’s military intelligence community were plagued with technical problems. There were major, multi-hour outages to their systems, and repeated crashes. Built-in debugging mechanisms failed.

The problems, which started as intelligence operations were undergoing updates to digital infrastructure, became so persistent as to undermine the “confidence” of Israeli intelligence agencies in one of their top network providers: the multinational tech conglomerate Cisco.

“This series of events happened during the period of war, deeply impacting customer sentiment,” warned a confidential memo drafted by Cisco and obtained by the Guardian. “During a period of national conflict, these repeated outages severely impacted critical operations.”

The September 2025 draft memo was part of a trove of internal documents leaked by Cisco workers furious with the company’s ties to Israel’s military three years into the war, which has killed more than 70,000 Palestinians... READ MORE  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/nov/07/israel-intelligence-cisco-gaza-palestine

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"AI may transform the economy. That does not guarantee investors will earn back the sums being poured into it."

 Opinion  AI  (artificial intelligence)

The Guardian view on the AI backlash: Silicon Valley’s political power is cracking

Editorial

 

Tech stocks have lost trillions while voters have rejected the industry’s political champions. The billionaire-led boom is facing a democratic reckoning

This week’s midterms showed that the political bill for the AI boom is falling due. The Democratic sweep intensified fears over runaway spending, mounting debt and resistance to datacentres, sending tech shares tumbling. On Thursday Wall Street suffered its worst day since the pandemic as $3.2tn was wiped from markets. Anthropic, developer of the Claude chatbot, is hoping to float within the next fortnight for $1.5tn (£1.1tn), but it may not now get even a trillion dollars. The dominant AI chipmaker Nvidia saw its value crash by more than $400bn. The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, lost $113bn in two days.

While a few very rich people may be a little less wealthy, the sell-off may not be a bad thing. It brings a needed dose of reality to an industry whose spending plans and valuations depend on heroic expectations of future profits. That is a view held by many influential figures – from Goldman Sachs’ research boss to Nobel laureate Daron Acemoğlu. AI may transform the economy. That does not guarantee investors will earn back the sums being poured into it....READ MORE  https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/nov/06/the-guardian-view-on-the-ai-backlash-american-voters-want-a-say-in-their-future

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Why should I care about other people’s economic situation? There are many reasons, but the simplest is that as human beings, our well-being is deeply interconnected. Growing inequality hurts economic growth and undermines social cohesion. This raises political and social tensions and, in some circumstances, drives instability and conflict... Every effort must be made to eradicate poverty so all people, everywhere, can live with dignity and prosperity.

United Nations

 

@UN

 

Everyone has the right to live free from poverty and the chance to thrive. 

 

Every efforts must be made to eradicate poverty so all people, everywhere, can live with dignity and prosperity. 

 

Saturday is #EndPoverty Day.  

https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/poverty/

 

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The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2026 

https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2026 

NPR: The skincare scheme that led to consumer complaints, lawsuits and a federal investigation... "Mazal translates to "luck" or "good fortune" in Hebrew. The Weingartens and Odeds are originally from Israel, as are the majority of corporate employees and licensees (store owners), according to former staff members."

Collage by Jackie Lay/NPR

 

NPR: The skincare scheme that led to consumer complaints, lawsuits and a federal investigation

October 14, 20265:00 AM ET

By 

Caley Fox Shannon

Monika Evstatieva 

It's a familiar experience for anyone who has walked through an American shopping mall: A friendly salesperson approaches with a free sample of skincare cream, offering the promise of younger-looking skin. As you pass, they launch into a stream of chatter — a compliment on your handbag or a question about what's in your shopping bag. It's the kind of encounter that shoppers often walk away from without a second thought.

But behind this familiar mall ritual, NPR uncovered something far more costly: customers hit with thousands of dollars in charges they never authorized and products they didn't want and can't return.

In Michigan, an elderly man with dementia was charged $42,000 for skincare products and devices. His family didn't realize the situation until his credit score dropped, his son told NPR.

In New Mexico, a spa employee sold a woman a $30,000 red-light therapy device. She alleged in a lawsuit that he also charged $78,000 for what he said was sales tax without her consent.

In Hawaii, a disabled woman was shown to the back room of a spa for a "free" facial. The salesperson took her walker, she wrote in a complaint to the state, and refused to let her leave for hours until she spent $2,600.

These stories share a common thread: The stores they visited have contracts to buy skincare products from Mazal Group, a California-based company managing dozens of brands sold in thousands of stores worldwide. And those brands are all owned by one family.

Over the past year, NPR spoke with more than 50 people impacted by this enterprise, including customers who say they were taken advantage of, their family members and former employees. This investigation draws from state and federal court lawsuits, hundreds of online reviews and nearly 500 consumer complaints that NPR obtained from agencies via Freedom of Information Act requests. NPR staff visited stores selling products from Mazal Group in Virginia, Maryland and California, as well as the company's Chatsworth, Calif., headquarters.

NPR's investigation finds that stores selling skincare products purchased from Mazal Group have routinely pressured shoppers, including older adults and people with disabilities, into buying expensive skincare products and services they did not want, could not afford or tried to refuse. The business model that a decade ago federal agents called a "credit card overcharge scheme" is active today in malls and shopping districts from Honolulu to Annapolis, Maryland.

Some store and kiosk operators... READ MORE  https://www.npr.org/2026/10/14/nx-s1-5550974/skincare-scheme-mazal-group-investigation  

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POWER ... a 2026 Poem by Anne Selden Annab

                  POWER

Billionaires hoard wealth in part, 

by deploying a small fraction 

of their ginormous wealth to persuade-

persuading leaders to vote for data centers 

and shape public policies 

that build Billionaire wealth 

and increasing political influence:

The VORTEX spins...

Erasing democracy.

Erasing equality.

Erasing justice.

Erasing security for most people, 

excluding, of course, the Billionaires' own personal empires-

the influencers they train, the puppets they prop up, 

the politicians they own,

the armies they build to bully US.

Massive Data Centers

hide Billionaire corruption 

and cover up Billionaire greed

in a trillion different ways...

Human history online is rewritten

bit by bit, to empower

and reward Billionaires even further.

A bloodless coup d'état

to impoverish We The People 

individually and collectively.

A global game of get get get

more wage slaves

to cook the food and clean the toilets

on the mega-yachts and in the McMansions

More wage slaves

for whatever whims and itches

the Billionaires and their

calculating Data Centers might feel.

 

 poem copyright ©2026 Anne Selden Annab

"Well, Core 5 is going ahead with the demolition of my Great Great Grandparents' farmhouse. While this lack of respect for our local history makes me sad, it pales in comparison to the losses experianced daily by Palestinians who are being systematically forced off their land by the illegal and immoral actions of the Likud government and its settler proxies." David Dietz of York, Pennsylvania, USA

 

 

 

*MORE PHOTOS found online:

Demolition has started on the historic stone farmhouse built by John Strickler in the 1870s. It stands along the Lincoln Highway in Hellam Township. Paul Kuehnel/York Daily Record photo essay https://www.ydr.com/picture-gallery/news/local/2026/08/26/photos-of-an-1870s-farmhouse-razed-to-make-way-for-a-warehouse-complex/91481081007/

 

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"Meanwhile, with his unwinnable war in the Middle East, capricious tariff regime and penchant for self-enrichment on an epic scale, Trump is turning the US into an increasingly unpredictable player in the global economy. Instead of the guarantor of rules-based markets and open global trade routes, the US has become a source of uncertainty and chaos." Heather Stewart in The Guardian

Economics viewpoint

 US economy 

Jumpy bond markets make it clear: Trump risks driving US into debt crisis

Treasury secretary Scott Bessent’s attempt to calm bond markets is a sign of weakness not strength 

 Heather Stewart

Sun 23 Aug 2026 

“Look, there’s nothing magic about that $40tn number,” the US Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, told CNBC insouciantly last week, as the country’s debt mountain surpassed another bleak record.

Yet Bessent’s decision to intervene in government bond markets in an effort to combat soaring yields belied his studied calm in TV interviews – and reignited fears the US may be on the road to a debt crisis.... READ MORE  https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/aug/23/jumpy-bond-markets-make-it-clear-trump-risks-driving-us-into-debt-crisis

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"The sad truth is that the income gap keeps widening between ordinary American families and the billionaires who make the decisions that affect our lives." Francine Prose

Has Trump no shame about all the money he has made since being in office?

By now we know that charity, generosity and compassion are virtues that the US president doesn’t seem to have even in trace amounts

Francine Prose 

Thu 20 Aug 2026

"... How can you, in good conscience, continue to amass so much disposable wealth when so many everyday Americans are struggling to fill their gas tanks and avoid losing their homes?

By now we know that charity, generosity and compassion – and conscience – are virtues that our president doesn’t seem to have even in trace amounts.

It’s impossible to imagine him following the examples set by billionaires such as Melinda Gates and Mackenzie Scott, who have pledged and made huge contributions to good causes.

Closely related to the mystery of why one man thinks he deserves and needs so much is the question of how anyone who has ever returned a grocery item back to the shelves after some bad news at the checkout counter can support a man who flaunts his extreme wealth and ignores their worsening hardships.

The only answer I can see is that Trump’s fortune is aspirational. It’s an aspect of the American dream that, despite the evidence, people still hope to attain. If Trump amassed those billions, maybe we can, too. 

The sad truth is that the income gap keeps widening between ordinary American families and the billionaires who make the decisions that affect our lives" ... READ MORE  https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/aug/20/trump-money-earnings-billionaires

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Zohran Mamdani and Donald Trump at the White House. ‘Despite clashing, the leftwing mayor and the rightwing president continue to talk.’ Photograph: Reuters

The Guardian view on global inequality: extreme wealth threatens democracy

Editorial

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/aug/18/the-guardian-view-on-global-inequality-extreme-wealth-threatens-democracy

The first anti-AI protester to be jailed has a message for OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta: ‘Regain your humanity’: “It’s absolutely frightening and appalling that these CEOs and AI experts know the dangers and they are pursuing it anyway,” Kaufmyn said before she was imprisoned. “That to me is unconscionable and reprehensible.”

A protest against AI outside OpenAI headquarters in San Francisco, California, on 11 July. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

Kaufmyn in front of her home in Berkeley, California. Photograph: Winni Wintermeyer/The Guardian

Wynd Kaufman, 69, chained and locked the front doors of OpenAI’s headquarters last year with members of StopAI

Robert Booth

Sun 16 Aug 2026 04.00 EDT

An activist who blocked the entrance to one of the world’s biggest AI companies is believed to have become the first person jailed for protesting against artificial intelligence as supporters dub her the “Rosa Parks of AI risk”.

Wynd Kaufman, 69, surrendered herself on Friday to authorities in San Francisco. She was found guilty by a jury for her role in an action last year that saw members of the group StopAI chain and lock the front doors of OpenAI’s headquarters in protest against the pursuit of artificial superintelligence.

The retired teacher from Berkeley, California, refused to move from a sit-in protest in February 2025 and pleaded not guilty to multiple misdemeanor charges. She was convicted in June of interfering with a business, trespassing with intent to interfere with a business, unlawful assembly and refusal to disburse a riot. On Friday, sheriff’s officers handcuffed her as fellow campaigners sang to the tune of the Battle Hymn of the Republic (Glory, Glory Hallelujah): “Rise up, rise up and join us/Do not let the tech bros destroy us.”

“It’s absolutely frightening and appalling that these CEOs and AI experts know the dangers and they are pursuing it anyway,” Kaufmyn said before she was imprisoned. “That to me is unconscionable and reprehensible.”

She said she was willing to go to jail not because she was a martyr but because it was an “issue of sounding the alarm, challenging the system and hopefully trying to get the message out”... READ MORE   https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/16/california-openai-protester-wynd-kaufman

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*Meanwhile, more than a thousand researchers at frontier AI labs this summer signed a letter warning of “a real risk that capability development rapidly accelerates beyond our ability to understand or control the resulting systems”.