The modern state resembles a building whose facade is cracking under the pressure of atomized individuals. The last 48 hours have exposed the mechanisms by which the system attempts to neutralize threats – from the surveillance of journalists to the elimination of assassins.
The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner. He faced an obsession that pushed him on a journey across half a continent. Austin Tucker Martin, a 21-year-old from North Carolina, covered a distance that is a logistical challenge for the average driver, but for him, it became a final mission. 1100 km — The distance traveled by Martin to Palm Beach separated his home from the Mar-a-Lago residence, where he ultimately died from the bullets of Secret Service agents.
His motivation, rooted in reading the Epstein Files, illustrates a new dynamic of threats. It is not an organized terrorist group, but information chaos that becomes the fuel for kinetic actions. Donald Trump summed it up with cold, almost fatalistic precision, suggesting the inevitability of risk inherent in exercising power.
„Ils ne s'en prennent qu'aux présidents influents” (They only target influential presidents) — Donald Trump
The security system worked, eliminating the physical threat, but it could not neutralize the idea that pulled the trigger. Martin's family, describing him as a „good kid”, was left with unanswered questions, while the investigative machinery, verified by the Reuters and AP agencies, now focuses on the technical aspects of the site penetration.The Eye of Big Brother. A threat to the state does not always take the form of an armed attacker; sometimes it is a person with a notebook. In London, the Investigatory Powers Tribunal is considering a case that redefines the boundaries of privacy in the name of national security. Vincent Kearney, a former BBC correspondent, functioned within the system for eight years not as a journalist, but as an operational target.
The MI5 services and the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) did not limit themselves to passive observation. In 2013 alone, within two weeks, data on 1,580 of Kearney's calls and messages were collected. This was not an incident, but a systemic strategy for obtaining sources, carried out with bureaucratic consistency.
Media surveillance in the UK, despite guarantees under the European Convention on Human Rights, often clashes with the broad powers of the services in the field of counter-terrorism, which has historically led to tensions between London and Belfast.
„The concessions made reveal repeated and consistent illegality on the part of multiple public authorities over a period of many years.” (The concessions made reveal repeated and consistent illegality on the part of multiple public authorities over a period of many years.) — Vincent Kearney
State institutions, established to protect order, have themselves become a source of legal chaos. MI5's admission of unlawful actions in 2006 and 2009 is not an act of contrition, but an exposure of procedures forced by the trial. The state, trying to control the flow of information, has paradoxically lost control over its own image of the rule of law.The Inertia of Justice. When services fail or exceed their powers, the justice system steps in, operating with a ruthless, mechanical logic. In Valencia, the Audiencia Provincial court ordered the opening of a trial against former Vice President Mónica Oltra. This decision was made against the position of the prosecutor's office and the investigating judge, proving that the judicial machine, once set in motion, is difficult to stop.
The case concerns the alleged cover-up of sexual abuse in the department headed by the leader of the Compromís party. The political calendar and upcoming election cycles did not matter to the judges, who decided that the assessment of evidence must take place publicly. This is a brutal reminder that political immunity or the „ethical image” of the left are powerless against criminal procedures.
Similar institutional rigidity manifested in Utah, where Judge Tony Graf rejected a motion to remove the prosecution from the Charlie Kirk murder case. Although the prosecutor's daughter was a witness to the event, the court found that the Utah County Attorney's Office is capable of maintaining objectivity. The accused, Tyler James Robinson, will stand trial, and the Utah state legal machine, which allows for the death penalty, will continue its work without disruption.Resistance of Matter. One might assume that the state is omnipotent, but its plans often crash against prosaic obstacles. In Galicia, the Xunta de Galicia government had to archive the Altri cellulose factory project. The reason was not ideological, but technical: a lack of electricity. The central government in Madrid excluded the investment from the transmission network development plan.
President Alfonso Rueda, despite rhetoric about the „Galician model of stability”, had to capitulate to the lack of infrastructure and pressure from the Ulloa Viva platform. This shows that even strategic economic interests, supported by the People's Party, are dependent on physical reality – cables, pipes, and environmental permits.
Institutions are powerful when they shoot or surveil, but helpless when they lack resources. Austin Martin died because the system worked. The Altri project collapsed because the system – in the energy dimension – did not work at all. The paradox is that in both cases, the final outcome depended on technical details, not on grand ideas.
Perspektywy mediów: Left-wing media emphasize the success of civic movements in Galicia and the need to hold surveillance of journalists accountable as a defense of human rights. Right-wing media focus on the effectiveness of the Secret Service in eliminating the threat to Trump and the need for harsh punishment of criminals in Utah, downplaying procedural issues.