Mark Power

The NDP is the party of labour. We will always stand shoulder-to-shoulder with workers.

Xi Jinping is putting on a clinic: “The whole world is watching our meeting. The International situation is turbulent. The world is at a new crossroads: Can China and the US overcome the Thucydides Trap and create a new paradigm to meet global challenges together.” The Thucydides Trap is the structural tension that occurs when a rapidly rising power (China) threatens to displace an established ruling power that is in decline (US). By mentioning the Thucydides trap, Xi Jinping is signaling that China is the new leader of the free world and what’s remarkable is, unlike the U.S., China achieved this without dropping bombs, waging endless wars, or spending $1 trillion a year on its military. Instead China became the leader of the free world by investing in its people with housing, education, health care, and the best modern infrastructure in the world, and investing in its neighbor countries through its Belt and Road Initiative, which has funded ports, railways, and energy networks across the Global South. The US became a “superpower” through endless wars, corruption, and selling out its own people to the billionaire class while China became a superpower and surpassed the US by building trade and relations with the world and investing in its people instead of wars. Americans would be wise to take note and then change our corrupt government.

New Gallup Poll: 71% of Americans now oppose data centers being built in their area. When the people know what is best for our communities, yet both parties continue to ignore what we want and do what their rich donors want, it means we need a new system.

69 US jurisdictions have now blocked new data centers. Citing the need to protect local power grids and water supplies, a growing number of cities, counties, and towns are pushing back hard against the explosive growth of AI data centers. At least 69 jurisdictions across the United States have passed restrictions or outright moratoriums on new data center construction — with four of those bans made permanent. Communities are alarmed by the massive resource demands of these facilities: enormous electricity consumption, millions of gallons of water for cooling, rising utility bills, constant noise, and the loss of local control over land use. What was once welcomed as economic development is now sparking fierce debates about sustainability and quality of life. The tipping point came in Michigan, where a huge AI data center project backed by OpenAI and Oracle was approved despite strong local opposition. The decision triggered a domino effect, with neighboring towns rushing to pass their own bans to prevent similar developments. As tech giants race to build the infrastructure needed for advanced AI, they’re increasingly running into resistance from communities unwilling to sacrifice their environment and resources for corporate expansion. The digital revolution is now colliding with physical reality.