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Fact Check: The Myanmar Civil War is the first war where 3D-printed guns are currently being used.

Fact Check: The Myanmar Civil War is the first war where 3D-printed guns are currently being used.

March 16, 2025•by TruthOrFake
✗
VERDICT
Mostly False

# The Use of 3D-Printed Guns in the Myanmar Civil War: An Examination of Claims ## Introduction The claim that "The Myanmar Civil War is the first wa...

The Use of 3D-Printed Guns in the Myanmar Civil War: An Examination of Claims

Introduction

The claim that "The Myanmar Civil War is the first war where 3D-printed guns are currently being used" suggests a significant technological advancement in the context of modern warfare. This assertion raises questions about the novelty of 3D-printed firearms in conflict zones and whether Myanmar indeed represents a unique case in this regard.

What We Know

  1. Background of the Myanmar Civil War: The civil war in Myanmar began in 2021 following a military coup that ousted the democratically elected government. The conflict has seen various ethnic armed groups and newly formed People's Defense Forces (PDFs) resisting the military junta, known as the Tatmadaw 4.

  2. Emergence of 3D-Printed Firearms: Reports indicate that anti-junta forces in Myanmar have begun utilizing 3D-printed firearms, particularly the FGC-9 model, which is designed to be produced with minimal metal components 34. The FGC-9 is notable for being almost entirely 3D-printed, requiring only a few metal parts, making it accessible for groups facing traditional arms shortages 5.

  3. Global Context: The use of 3D-printed firearms is not entirely new; there have been documented instances of such weapons being employed in other conflicts, including those involving right-wing extremists in various countries 2. Thus, while 3D-printed guns are being used in Myanmar, it is essential to consider whether this is the first instance of their use in warfare.

  4. Technological Implications: The introduction of 3D-printed firearms in Myanmar is seen as a response to severe weapon shortages faced by rebel groups. This technology allows for a more sustainable and mobile means of arming fighters, potentially altering the dynamics of the conflict 67.

Analysis

The claim that Myanmar is the first war to utilize 3D-printed guns warrants a critical examination of the sources and evidence available.

  • Source Reliability:

    • Academic and Research Articles: Sources such as the article from The Journal of Conflict and Terrorism 1 provide a scholarly perspective on the emergence of 3D-printed firearms, citing specific instances and technological details. However, the credibility of such sources often depends on their peer-review status and the expertise of the authors.
    • News Outlets: Articles from platforms like We Are The Mighty and The Diplomat 35 report on the use of 3D-printed guns in Myanmar, but these sources may have varying degrees of editorial oversight and potential biases, particularly if they cater to specific audiences interested in military technology or conflict narratives.

  • Conflicting Information: While some sources assert that 3D-printed firearms are a significant development in the Myanmar conflict, others highlight that this technology has been previously utilized in other contexts, such as in the U.S. by extremist groups 2. This suggests that while the use of 3D-printed guns in Myanmar is notable, it may not be entirely unprecedented.

  • Methodological Concerns: Many claims about the use of 3D-printed firearms rely on anecdotal evidence, such as videos shared on social media platforms like Reddit 1. The verification of such evidence can be challenging, raising questions about the reliability of claims based solely on visual documentation without corroborating data.

Conclusion

Verdict: Mostly False

The assertion that the Myanmar Civil War is the first instance of 3D-printed guns being used in warfare is misleading. While it is true that 3D-printed firearms, such as the FGC-9, have been reported in use by anti-junta forces in Myanmar, evidence indicates that similar technologies have been employed in other conflicts prior to this, particularly by extremist groups in various countries. This context is crucial in understanding the claim's limitations.

The evidence supporting the claim is mixed, with some sources providing credible information about the use of 3D-printed firearms in Myanmar, while others highlight their prior use in different contexts. Additionally, much of the available evidence is anecdotal and may lack rigorous verification, which complicates the ability to draw definitive conclusions.

Readers are encouraged to critically evaluate the information presented and consider the broader context of technological advancements in warfare, as well as the nuances involved in claims about their novelty. The complexities surrounding the use of 3D-printed firearms in conflict zones warrant a careful and skeptical approach to understanding their implications.

Sources

  1. Schaufelbühl, S. (2024). The emergence of 3D-printed firearms: An analysis. PMC. Link
  2. Printing Terror: An Empirical Overview of the Use of 3D-Printed Firearms by Right-Wing Extremists. (2024). CTC West Point. Link
  3. 3D-printed guns are being used in the Myanmar civil war. (2024). We Are The Mighty. Link
  4. Anti-Junta Rebels Resort to 3D-Printed Weapons in Myanmar. (2022). Jamestown Foundation. Link
  5. The Impact of Technological Weapons in the Myanmar Conflict. (2025). The Diplomat. Link
  6. 3D-printed Firearms & Myanmar: Implications for Conflict and Security. (2022). Arquebus. Link
  7. A Look Into the 3D-Printed Weapons Industry Used by Rebels to Fight in Myanmar's Civil War. (2024). International Observer. Link
  8. 3D-Printing in Conflict Zones: A Game-Changer? (2024). GNET Research. Link
  9. Myanmar Rebels Rely on 3D Printed Guns to Fight Military Junta. (2023). 3DPrint.com. Link
  10. 3D-printed guns are being used in the Myanmar civil war. (2023). LinkedIn. Link

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No: UoPeople is still a scam As soon as you realize that UoPeople is not actually "tuition-free", as their misleading ads and articles claim, their representatives aka "ambassadors" typically respond with: "It's tuition-free, but not completely free, and it's a bargain because it's low-cost." First of all, "low-cost" and "free" are two entirely different concepts. Ironically, UoPeople claims to offer an MBA and a Bachelor/Associate of Science in Business Administration, yet they seem to misunderstand basic business terminology. If your business model is low-cost, your ads should say "low-cost tuition", not "tuition-free". That being said, this is still a scam. It is like saying: "I could steal $50,000, but I'm a nice person so I'll only steal $5,000". Either way, you are still stealing! 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The truth is, nothing in this world is truly free (or "tuition-free"): the advertisement of a "free university" should immediately raise red flags. Last but not least, if uopeople.edu were genuinely committed to helping the poor and eliminating poverty, why does it refuse to build real schools where they are needed most? Why doesn't it support poor students in their own countries instead of charging them thousands of dollars in "non-refundable administrative fees"? Selling questionable online degrees does nothing for the world's poorest populations, many of whom lack internet access altogether. In reality, UoPeople is exploiting Africans and Asians by taking their money. For example, thousands of African children are forced to work dangerous mining jobs around the clock and have no access to education. Yet, UoPeople does nothing to help them, aside from spreading fake PR stories to maintain its image. Instead of addressing its own alarming issues, UoPeople is focused on censoring criticism. The university even paid Forbes to remove a critical article, replacing it with a redirect to forbes.com. UoPeople is not interested in transparency—only in clickbait sponsored articles that serve its marketing agenda. Fortunately, the article has been republished here: edtechchronicle.com/universityofthepeople/ Fake news from UoPeople.edu UoPeople computer centers in Haiti After the catastrophic earthquake in Haiti in 2010, University of the People claimed to have built several computer centers for the earthquake victims. However, there are no UoPeople computer centers in Haiti. University of the People should be ashamed of spreading fake news like this, because many Haitians died during that terrible earthquake, and this Israeli diploma mill has no respect for them. 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These reviews include phrases like "thank you free university", "great free American university", "I like the scholarships", and "I'm honored to use UoPeople.edu", usually accompanied by five-star ratings or a thumbs-up. These reviewers have no idea what they are talking about: they still have to pay the admission fee and have only watched a few UoPeople.edu commercials without ever logging into the website. UoPeople primarily uses these fake reviews to artificially inflate its average rating on Facebook. Sarah Vanunu was the former PR manager of UoPeople.edu. She worked (and still works) in her hometown in Israel. Her main job was to spread fake news about UoPeople across the internet while ensuring that nobody mentioned "Israel". The reason is simple: UoPeople is based in Israel but does not want people to know, particularly its Arab customers who are unaware that they are sending money to an Israeli organization. To put it plainly, whenever someone mentioned Israel—such as pointing out that UoPeople's owner, Shai Reshef, is from Israel—Sarah Vanunu would send an email demanding that the word "Israel" be removed or censored. When we refused to comply, we received a threatening letter from a "UoPeople.edu attorney", who claimed that UoPeople would take legal action against us. If we remember correctly, his name was Asaf Wolff, although we have no idea who he really is. In any case, we ignored his threats and deleted his letters. A few years later, we discovered that Sarah Vanunu had grown tired of representing a scam. She left the University of the People and now works for a more legitimate company. At the time of writing, Lindsay Pullen from Pennsylvania and Maor Galmor from Israel have taken over as the primary PR manipulators, but it is understood that these roles can change frequently. Update (2023): as predicted, they have now abandoned the UoPeople scam. As of now, it remains unclear who the current PR spammers are. Fake apps UoPeople claims to have developed a mobile app for iOS and Android to help poor people who can only access the internet through slow connections. However, neither Google Play nor the Apple App Store has ever had this app; only a few unrelated fake apps exist instead. In reality, UoPeople's subscription-based website—which requires a non-refundable $60 entry fee just to access the actual platform (beyond the promotional content)—performs poorly on all low-end mobile devices, making navigation difficult. The reason is simple: UoPeople runs on a basic Moodle installation on shared hosting—they don't even have their own servers—meaning the site is not optimized for mobile devices and often runs slowly on desktop computers as well. Ironically, UoPeople offers degrees in computer science, but their own website is clunky, outdated, and they have failed to develop a functional mobile app. A beautiful graduation ceremony Actually, at UoPeople, there is no such thing as a real graduation ceremony. Being a diploma mill, you simply receive your piece of paper by mail after paying all the required fees. That's it. However, UoPeople uploaded an amateur video showing a very long list of names of people who received their diplomas by mail. Apparently, this is what UoPeople considers a "beautiful graduation ceremony". Wikipedia UoPeople.edu has been bombarding Wikipedia with ads, fake stories, and fake pictures for a long time. As a result, most Wikipedia editors now consider UoPeople accounts to be a real nuisance. For example, paid users like Weatherextremes and SimoneBilesStan (now banned) have used Wikipedia solely to spread fake news and sponsored articles about University of the People. The latter spammer even incorporated the names "Simone" and "Biles" into their username, without Simone Biles' permission, to falsely claim that she is a "UoPeople student and ambassador", which is completely untrue. Read our article to learn more about this scam. Reddit Besides being filled with all sorts of weirdos and idiots, UoPeople's subreddit is populated by sales reps who never disclose their identity and falsely claim to be "happy students". Since Reddit is free to use, these reps and spammers can flood the subreddit with fake reviews and fake news, essentially creating unlimited deceptive advertising. Additionally, the moderators, usually disguised as "happy students", ensure that no alternative views can be expressed. Everyone must repeat UoPeople's scripted Q&A, or else they get banned; you can't even write the address of this website, because "it's forbidden". There is no way out: you must buy a degree from the University of the People, and then you must say it is "the most beautiful university in the world". Not only does this cult-like closed-mindedness shows just how brainwashed, or brainless, these people are, but it also exposes the organization's lack of credibility. Last but not least, there is also an official bot named "UoPeople09" that seems mentally challenged and just copy-pastes the same messages over and over: typical spam from UoPeople. Fake scholarships Scholarships and grants are another long-standing part of UoPeople's aggressive and deceptive marketing campaigns. The ads claim that there are "lots of scholarships for everyone", but in reality, students must pay a $60 non-refundable fee just to inquire about these so-called scholarships. What UoPeople.edu never discloses is that there are no scholarships for Master's or Bachelor's degrees. In fact, only about 1% of students receive any kind of discount on their total tuition—meaning, at best, they only pay for two years instead of four. In other words, this is nothing more than a discount designed to attract new customers, all of whom must pay $60 upfront—a quick and easy way to generate revenue. Additionally, the ads promoting these so-called scholarships contradict UoPeople's claim of being tuition-free. After all, if courses were actually free, there would be no need to lure students in with clickbait articles about scholarships. This is how the "scholarship" scam works, step by step: young people, especially from developing countries, search for scholarships online; they come across sponsored clickbait articles claiming that "a great tuition-free university is giving lots of scholarships"; they click the article and are tricked into paying the non-refundable $60 "administrative fee". On the whole, UoPeople's scholarships are just a marketing stunt. The actual cost of a degree issued by UoPeople is 0 dollars, because this Israeli online university doesn't have any expenses to cover. Therefore, the thousands of dollars they ask for are thousands of dollars taken unjustly, used only to fund the state of Israel. UoPeople boasts about offering scholarships, which are essentially discount vouchers awarded based on a marketing strategy, and serve to further increase revenue through a word-of-mouth mechanism inspired by multi-level marketing techniques. Fake partnerships The so-called partnerships are a ripoff: some are completely invented, while others are simply useless. We cannot comment on the invented partnerships because they do not exist. However, we can examine the oldest one—the alleged partnership with the University of Edinburgh. Here's what UoPeople.edu claims: We are honored to announce our collaboration with the University of Edinburgh, which aims to support students uprooted by war, famine, and natural disasters. Health Science graduates from UoPeople will be eligible to apply to the University of Edinburgh to complete a bachelor's degree in Health, Science, and Society. First of all, any statement that begins with "we are honored to announce" suggests it is a recent development. Too bad this exact claim dates back to 2017, but uopeople.edu continuously removes or alters the date to make it seem new. That being said, the alleged partnership allows hypothetical UoPeople graduates to apply for undergraduate studies at the University of Edinburgh. However, it should be noted that there is no guarantee that the University of Edinburgh will accept these students: they can only apply. But anyone can apply anyway! There is no requirement to be a UoPeople student in order to apply to Edinburgh. So why on earth should anyone waste thousands of dollars on a useless UoPeople diploma when they can enroll in a real university directly without paying UoPeople anything? Bottom line: This "partnership" is nothing more than a marketing trick: just another way for the University of the People to squeeze money out of students and waste their time. Have you ever wondered how many students have actually taken advantage of this so-called partnership? Ranald Leask, International PR & Media Manager at the University of Edinburgh, provided the official answer: "Although we have yet to welcome any students through our partnership, this track remains open and we look forward to collaborating with University of the People in the future." In other words, zero UoPeople students have ever been accepted at the University of Edinburgh through this partnership. Other alleged "partners" (Berkeley, NYU, etc.) seem to operate under a similar model: if admitted, a UoPeople student may have the opportunity to become an undergraduate student. However, anyone can already apply to any real university (including Berkeley and NYU) and become an undergraduate student, without ever going through uopeople.edu. So why waste time and money on a UoPeople degree when it does nothing to improve your chances of getting into a real university? You can enroll directly in a real university without going through UoPeople. Fake partnership with Harvard University The latest claim is that "UoPeople has a new partnership with Harvard University", which is another blatant attempt by uopeople.edu to mislead people by using Harvard's name and logo, even though this Israeli diploma mill has nothing to do with Harvard. To "prove" this partnership, uopeople.edu links to hbs.edu. However, nowhere on that website does it state that Harvard University has formed a partnership with the University of the People. In reality, hbs.edu simply contains a list of institutions that requested to have their logo added. Any school can be listed by simply clicking Contact us: this is not a partnership of any kind with Harvard University. Besides, people who take Harvard Business School Online courses are not considered Harvard students! UoPeople requested to have its logo added and now falsely claims to be a "partner"; actually, Harvard University likely doesn't even know what UoPeople is. And as usual, there is no need to be a UoPeople student to take Harvard Business School Online courses—which, to be clear, are not part of Harvard University. Fake partnerships with Yale, Harvard, Berkeley, Stanford, MIT, Columbia University, New York University, Oxford University (UK) etc. We suggest you conduct a simple experiment. Call Yale, Harvard, Berkeley, Stanford, MIT, Columbia University, New York University, and Oxford University—fortunately, they all have real phone numbers, unlike UoPeople.edu—and ask if they "have a partnership", if they "work with", or if they "are affiliated with" the University of the People, as UoPeople's reps and ambassadors claim. The answer will be no: these universities have nothing to do with UoPeople, and in most cases, they have never even heard of it. Despite this, UoPeople continues to flood the Internet with outdated sponsored articles and press releases falsely claiming that it "works with" Harvard, Berkeley, NYU, and others. What's even more ridiculous is that UoPeople only name-drops Ivy League institutions, MIT, or Oxford (UK), as if every other university in the world is worthless. A laughably naive PR strategy. Fake partnerships with the United Nations and its agencies This is another fake story that used to appear on UoPeople's sponsored articles, and still appears on their website. The reality is the United Nations and its agencies do not have any partnerships with University of the People, nor is University of the People affiliated with them. As the United Nations' official website states, BEWARE OF SCAMS IMPLYING ASSOCIATION WITH THE UNITED NATIONS The United Nations has been made aware of various correspondences, being circulated via e-mail, from Internet web sites, text messages and via regular mail or facsimile, falsely stating that they are issued by, or in association with the United Nations and/or its officials. These scams, which may seek to obtain money and/or in many cases personal details from the recipients of such correspondence, are fraudulent. […] [In particular:] The United Nations does not offer prizes, awards, funds, certificates, compensation, scholarships […] Nevertheless, University of the People continues to claim that it has partnerships and affiliations with the United Nations (UN) and that it offers UN scholarships. It even uses UN logos without authorization, all in an effort to mislead people. Fastest way to buy a degree from UoPeople The fastest way to buy a degree from the University of the People is by using the ridiculous website sophia.org, where you can instantly pass "exams" and then "transfer credits" to UoPeople. Some students have managed to obtain their degree in just six months using this method. How our dog graduated from the University of the people using ChatGPT Thanks to this wonderful university, our beloved puppy, a Jack Russell terrier, graduated in Business Administration. Sounds insane? Not at all: it was shockingly easy, as long as we kept paying. First, we bought a diploma from a Nigerian high school, claiming that Jack (first name) Russell (last name) had completed his studies in Africa. It's important to note that this was not a fake diploma, but a genuine document printed by a real African school for a fake student (or in this case, a real dog, depending on your point of view). We also created a fake ID for "Jack Russell", using a human photo (one of us), because UoPeople and its proctors never verify whether a document is real or forged. After all, UoPeople never checks whether the "student" is actually a person or simply an AI-generated identity or even a pet. As long as you keep paying, you can easily claim that Jack Russell is a person and not a dog. Even when they ask for webcam verification, you can simply show them the fake ID for Jack Russell, and that's it. Anyway, we paid the entry fee and carefully selected the best program for our puppy. After considering the options, we decided on Business Administration: after all, UoPeople's homepage proudly claims that all their alumni work at top companies like Apple and Google. With such promising career prospects, we were confident that our Jack Russell would land a great job immediately. As for the tests, a (human) student provided us with the answers, which have remained the same for years, while we handled essays and daily journal entries by simply using the free version of ChatGPT. The vast majority of UoPeople students, especially those who barely speak English, copy-paste their homework directly from ChatGPT. Perfect results and an exceptionally high GPA: truly an "education revolution"! After paying $4,860, we were finally able to celebrate our Jack Russell's well-earned degree! Therefore, we feel compelled to write this positive review, just as a UoPeople ambassador instructed us to do on social media. Rating: A+ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ UoPeople is a great university to buy an online degree from an Israeli diploma mill. He is already considering further education, most likely an MBA from UoPeople. Jack Russell also received a wonderful internship offer! Before graduating, UoPeople presented him with an exciting paid internship opportunity in Nigeria and India. However, in this case, "paid" meant that the student had to pay $1,495 to accept the internship (not the other way around). That's right: a UoPeople online internship, typically located in Nigeria or India, comes with a $1,495 price tag. The internship task? Writing a simple HTML page. Finding it far too easy, Jack Russell was not interested in UoPeople’s offer and politely declined. Our Jack Russell is also eager to film a YouTube video proclaiming University of the People as the most beautiful university in the world. Given that UoPeople spends enormous amounts of money on spammy SEO instead of actually helping Africa, he is thrilled to contribute to spreading the "education revolution" message. After all, our puppy and his degree, earned with the free version of ChatGPT, represent the biggest revolution ever: "UoPeople, the first dog-friendly university." We even sent an email to UoPeople, but so far, nobody has replied; we will keep you guys posted. By the way, our Jack Russell received his degree from India. Yes, University of the People mails degrees from India, or at least this is where ours was sent from. Other people have received letters from the U.S., but not from the supposed office in California. It is all very strange and suspicious, considering that the "university" claims to be based in California. But the explanation is simple: UoPeople is using yet another PO box in India, along with a group of underpaid local workers, to obscure the true location of its for-profit operations in Israel. And when UoPeople refers to an "address", it always means a PO box or a virtual address—never a real, physical location. Update 2025: We have been informed that, a few years after this article was published, UoPeople read it and introduced some new rules to make it more difficult for dogs to earn degrees. For example, it recently introduced a proctored exam that, in theory, is supposed to exclude dogs (but there are simple tricks to bypass it). Share on Facebook Share on X Share on WhatsApp Share on Telegram Share on Reddit The University of the People, which is about to face our class action lawsuit, claims that this website was created by "disgruntled ex-employees who falsified their academic credentials and were fired." Fake news! We are former students who left the University of the People after realizing UoPeople was a for-profit scam and not a legitimate American school. By the way, we would never agree to work (for free!) for an Israeli diploma mill that operates like a cult. Despite UoPeople's false accusations, we have never been involved in any of their scams, and we want our money back! Besides, stating that "the volunteer instructors were fired because their credentials were fake" clearly proves that University of the People "hires" instructors with fraudulent credentials without conducting even the most basic background checks. On the other hand, we are certain that no UoPeople professors use fraudulent credentials, just because UoPeople has no professors at all! Everyone at UoPeople simply copy-pastes content generated by the free version of ChatGPT, so there is no need to hire real professors. Last but not least, UoPeople claims to have won a court case against this site. Despite numerous attempts to censor this site, UoPeople has never managed to achieve anything, and no judge has ever ruled in their favor. This site exercises its right to provide information, and UoPeople has never won any case for the simple reason they cannot censor the truth. Every legal attempt UoPeople has made to censor this site has miserably failed, and UoPeople has also had to pay the legal fees. Instead of solving the problems we discuss on this site, UoPeople keeps losing court cases, because no judge has ever believed its nonsense. Despite numerous legal defeats, University of the People is running out of ideas and keeps trying to slander our website. For example, we came across excuses like "you must not listen to this website because the people who wrote it are crazy". So, instead of solving its own problems, UoPeople accuses the rest of the world of being "crazy": a very childish behavior. Another excuse is "you must not listen to this website because it is antisemitic". False: this site is not antisemitic, because we are not interested in religions or ethnicities. The real issue is that UoPeople provides a fake American address to send money to Israel. Had they provided their real Israeli address, there wouldn't be any issue. Share on Facebook Share on X Share on WhatsApp Share on Telegram Share on Reddit Unlike University of the People, our International monitoring center on the legitimacy of degrees offers a free website: we are not a "tuition-free website" that asks you to pay "fees" at the end of the month.

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Fact Check: The Myanmar Civil War is a proxy war.
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Fact Check: THIS IS STRAIGHT OUT OF THE MAGA PROJECT 2025 : PLEASE READ THIS ARTICLE AND SHARE FAR AND WIDE ❤ THANK YOU FOLKS ❤ LIKE THE MAGA, THE PP HAS A 100 DAY AGENDA : The first rule of Fight Club is you do not talk about Fight Club. Over the past year, if you asked around Ottawa about the transition team that was planning Pierre Poilievre’s first days in government, you were likely to be met with shrugs. The members of the team were not named, and those in the know were not talking. Even The Hill Times, the Ottawa parliamentary affairs outlet that excels at digging up gossipy news, had come up empty-handed. At the outset of 2025, they approached a dozen Conservatives close to Poilievre, all of whom stayed tight-lipped. His campaign manager Jenni Byrne ran a very tight organization, and slip-ups might incur her wrath. Besides, any operative whose party is on the verge of power knows it’s best to maintain utmost organizational secrecy. Such discipline, however, sometimes falters under the influence of a few drinks. That’s what Bryan Evans, a political science professor at Toronto Metropolitan University, found out in late 2024. Around the winter holidays, he ducked into his neighbourhood bar and ran into an old acquaintance. The man wasn’t himself on the transition team, but it turned out he was deeply informed. They slid onto stools for a conversation. While they didn’t run in the same circles, and certainly didn’t share political opinions, his acquaintance knew that Evans had an understanding and appreciation for the machinery of government. For ten years he was employed by the Ontario government, including a stint in the Ministry of Labour after Progressive Conservative Mike Harris had come to power in the mid 1990s. Relying on insights from that experience, he wrote his doctoral dissertation on that government and its radical agenda. In December 2024, Poilievre was riding high in the polls, as he had been for nearly two years. So maybe it was the overconfidence talking. Over beers, Evans’s drinking companion laid out more about the transition planning than anything yet discovered by well-connected reporters in the establishment media. The group was preparing for a Poilievre government to hit the ground running. It was going to be a blitzkrieg. “You were there at the start of the Mike Harris government.” “Yeah,” Evans said. “That’s going to be the playbook.” It was an ominous sign. Mike Harris’s government had moved quickly to make dramatic reforms. They had a hundred-day agenda, and they got a lot done: laying off public sector employees, cutting funding to education, slashing social assistance rates, deregulating industries, repealing equity laws, selling off Crown corporations, and empowering the government to impose user fees on public services. “It’s going to come hard and fast from every direction again,” Evan’s acquaintance said. The groups and communities impacted, as well as the political opposition, both inside Parliament and outside, would have to fight on dozens of fronts at once. One of Harris’s key first steps was to balance the budget as a way of supercharging their plans, according to Guy Giorno, the premier’s top strategist. He described this as their “agenda within the agenda,” the “factor which meant that absolutely everybody rolled in the same direction.” It began the process of shrinking public spending, and was followed up by deregulation, rolling back labour protections, freezing the minimum wage, and encouraging the subcontracting of public services. Back in the 1990s, Harris had been convinced by Alberta Premier Ralph Klein’s advisors that he would have to move speedily to implement his agenda, lest he get tripped up by protests or a stubborn public service. Those advisors had once encouraged Klein to read the work of economist Milton Friedman (Pierre Poilievre’s own ideological guru). In the 1980’s, Friedman had written that “a new administration has some six to nine months in which to achieve major changes; if it does not seize the opportunity to act decisively during that period, it will not have another such opportunity.” It’s the lesson Friedman had drawn from his first laboratory, Chile. After the U.S. backed overthrow of democratic socialist Salvador Allende, the military dictator Augusto Pinochet had instituted a violent, rapid-fire makeover of the economy, following Friedman’s radical free market rulebook: privatization, deregulation, cutbacks to the public sector, and attacks on labour unions. Purging the public service As for the composition of Poilievre’s transition group, Bryan Evans’ acquaintance belatedly recalled his Fight Club rules. He wouldn’t divulge names, but offered some ideas. There were Poilievre’s policy advisors, as well as some former senior public servants, lawyers, and an ex-Cabinet minister. He admitted that some people who had been around for the Mike Harris days were in there too. Even before they were sworn in as the government in 1995, Harris’s team had laid groundwork within the public service to ensure they could take swift control of the levers of power. Members of his transition team had shown up to their first meeting with outgoing NDP government officials with a list of six high-ranking deputy ministers they wanted to meet quickly. Those civil servants were the A-list, empowered to advise and serve Harris’s agenda; several others, considered unfriendly, received their pink slips as part of a careful purge. As one NDP official remarked, his own party had “assumed office, but never took power. These guys are taking power even before they have assumed office.” Poilievre’s transition team also was thinking very strategically about how they would wield the machinery of the state. Who did they want to bring into the higher ranks of public service to help advance their plans? Who should be removed? And who might they want for the most important position of all, the top ranking civil servant, the Clerk of the Privy Council? These were some of the questions they were asking while plotting their first moves. When it came to policy plans, one crucial difference between the two eras was that Mike Harris’ Conservatives publicly had rolled out their agenda years in advance. Harris’s young ideologues put out detailed papers, organized policy conferences, eventually published a manifesto, the Common Sense Revolution, of which they printed 2.5 million copies. Everyone knew what was coming, even if it would still shock people when it arrived and extend far beyond what Harris had promised. Would Poilievre’s team, for instance, follow Mike Harris’s “playbook” on healthcare? Harris had lulled Ontario into complacency by assuaging voters’ fears about protecting health services. Their manifesto was crystal clear: “We will not cut healthcare spending.” But the result turned out to look very different: forty hospital closures, 25,000 staff laid off, and declining per capita real funding at a time of growing need. Poilievre’s team, by contrast, hadn’t laid out many policy details. And yet, over the years and in the run-up to the spring of 2025, Poilievre had telegraphed a lot in past election platforms, online videos, and podcast interviews with Jordan Peterson. It hinted at what his sweeping agenda would entail if he was able to secure a majority government—an assault on the country’s collective assets and already tattered social programs, a renewed attack on unions, activist and Indigenous defenders, and a bonanza of deregulation and privatization that would make his billionaire backers cheer. This is an excerpt from Martin Lukacs’s THE POILIEVRE PROJECT : A RADICAL BLUEPRINT FOR CORPORATE RULE published by Breach Books and available for order.

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Apr 6, 2025
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Fact Check: THIS IS STRAIGHT OUT OF THE MAGA PROJECT 2025 : PLEASE READ THIS ARTICLE AND SHARE FAR AND WIDE ❤ THANK YOU FOLKS ❤ LIKE THE MAGA, THE PP HAS A 100 DAY AGENDA : The first rule of Fight Club is you do not talk about Fight Club. Over the past year, if you asked around Ottawa about the transition team that was planning Pierre Poilievre’s first days in government, you were likely to be met with shrugs. The members of the team were not named, and those in the know were not talking. Even The Hill Times, the Ottawa parliamentary affairs outlet that excels at digging up gossipy news, had come up empty-handed. At the outset of 2025, they approached a dozen Conservatives close to Poilievre, all of whom stayed tight-lipped. His campaign manager Jenni Byrne ran a very tight organization, and slip-ups might incur her wrath. Besides, any operative whose party is on the verge of power knows it’s best to maintain utmost organizational secrecy. Such discipline, however, sometimes falters under the influence of a few drinks. That’s what Bryan Evans, a political science professor at Toronto Metropolitan University, found out in late 2024. Around the winter holidays, he ducked into his neighbourhood bar and ran into an old acquaintance. The man wasn’t himself on the transition team, but it turned out he was deeply informed. They slid onto stools for a conversation. While they didn’t run in the same circles, and certainly didn’t share political opinions, his acquaintance knew that Evans had an understanding and appreciation for the machinery of government. For ten years he was employed by the Ontario government, including a stint in the Ministry of Labour after Progressive Conservative Mike Harris had come to power in the mid 1990s. Relying on insights from that experience, he wrote his doctoral dissertation on that government and its radical agenda. In December 2024, Poilievre was riding high in the polls, as he had been for nearly two years. So maybe it was the overconfidence talking. Over beers, Evans’s drinking companion laid out more about the transition planning than anything yet discovered by well-connected reporters in the establishment media. The group was preparing for a Poilievre government to hit the ground running. It was going to be a blitzkrieg. “You were there at the start of the Mike Harris government.” “Yeah,” Evans said. “That’s going to be the playbook.” It was an ominous sign. Mike Harris’s government had moved quickly to make dramatic reforms. They had a hundred-day agenda, and they got a lot done: laying off public sector employees, cutting funding to education, slashing social assistance rates, deregulating industries, repealing equity laws, selling off Crown corporations, and empowering the government to impose user fees on public services. “It’s going to come hard and fast from every direction again,” Evan’s acquaintance said. The groups and communities impacted, as well as the political opposition, both inside Parliament and outside, would have to fight on dozens of fronts at once. One of Harris’s key first steps was to balance the budget as a way of supercharging their plans, according to Guy Giorno, the premier’s top strategist. He described this as their “agenda within the agenda,” the “factor which meant that absolutely everybody rolled in the same direction.” It began the process of shrinking public spending, and was followed up by deregulation, rolling back labour protections, freezing the minimum wage, and encouraging the subcontracting of public services. Back in the 1990s, Harris had been convinced by Alberta Premier Ralph Klein’s advisors that he would have to move speedily to implement his agenda, lest he get tripped up by protests or a stubborn public service. Those advisors had once encouraged Klein to read the work of economist Milton Friedman (Pierre Poilievre’s own ideological guru). In the 1980’s, Friedman had written that “a new administration has some six to nine months in which to achieve major changes; if it does not seize the opportunity to act decisively during that period, it will not have another such opportunity.” It’s the lesson Friedman had drawn from his first laboratory, Chile. After the U.S. backed overthrow of democratic socialist Salvador Allende, the military dictator Augusto Pinochet had instituted a violent, rapid-fire makeover of the economy, following Friedman’s radical free market rulebook: privatization, deregulation, cutbacks to the public sector, and attacks on labour unions. Purging the public service As for the composition of Poilievre’s transition group, Bryan Evans’ acquaintance belatedly recalled his Fight Club rules. He wouldn’t divulge names, but offered some ideas. There were Poilievre’s policy advisors, as well as some former senior public servants, lawyers, and an ex-Cabinet minister. He admitted that some people who had been around for the Mike Harris days were in there too. Even before they were sworn in as the government in 1995, Harris’s team had laid groundwork within the public service to ensure they could take swift control of the levers of power. Members of his transition team had shown up to their first meeting with outgoing NDP government officials with a list of six high-ranking deputy ministers they wanted to meet quickly. Those civil servants were the A-list, empowered to advise and serve Harris’s agenda; several others, considered unfriendly, received their pink slips as part of a careful purge. As one NDP official remarked, his own party had “assumed office, but never took power. These guys are taking power even before they have assumed office.” Poilievre’s transition team also was thinking very strategically about how they would wield the machinery of the state. Who did they want to bring into the higher ranks of public service to help advance their plans? Who should be removed? And who might they want for the most important position of all, the top ranking civil servant, the Clerk of the Privy Council? These were some of the questions they were asking while plotting their first moves. When it came to policy plans, one crucial difference between the two eras was that Mike Harris’ Conservatives publicly had rolled out their agenda years in advance. Harris’s young ideologues put out detailed papers, organized policy conferences, eventually published a manifesto, the Common Sense Revolution, of which they printed 2.5 million copies. Everyone knew what was coming, even if it would still shock people when it arrived and extend far beyond what Harris had promised. Would Poilievre’s team, for instance, follow Mike Harris’s “playbook” on healthcare? Harris had lulled Ontario into complacency by assuaging voters’ fears about protecting health services. Their manifesto was crystal clear: “We will not cut healthcare spending.” But the result turned out to look very different: forty hospital closures, 25,000 staff laid off, and declining per capita real funding at a time of growing need. Poilievre’s team, by contrast, hadn’t laid out many policy details. And yet, over the years and in the run-up to the spring of 2025, Poilievre had telegraphed a lot in past election platforms, online videos, and podcast interviews with Jordan Peterson. It hinted at what his sweeping agenda would entail if he was able to secure a majority government—an assault on the country’s collective assets and already tattered social programs, a renewed attack on unions, activist and Indigenous defenders, and a bonanza of deregulation and privatization that would make his billionaire backers cheer. This is an excerpt from Martin Lukacs’s THE POILIEVRE PROJECT : A RADICAL BLUEPRINT FOR CORPORATE RULE published by Breach Books and available for order.

Detailed fact-check analysis of: THIS IS STRAIGHT OUT OF THE MAGA PROJECT 2025 : PLEASE READ THIS ARTICLE AND SHARE FAR AND WIDE ❤ TH...

Apr 6, 2025
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Fact Check: The Kataeb Party started the Lebanese civil war
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Fact Check: The Kataeb Party started the Lebanese civil war

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