Here at Coda, we take a Unified Field Theory approach to the global storylines exerting a gravitational pull on events, whether planetary or local. Social and political forces are interconnected, interrelated, sometimes coordinated (and best understood by investigating the actions of individual people). But in recent weeks, everything and everyone seem to be flocking together. It’s starting to feel ridiculous.

Take the last few days of Ukraine news. Once upon a time, like perhaps in 2015 or 2016, activists working at anti-corruption NGOs operating in not fully consolidated democracies feared physical attacks; apart from personal safety, their big concern was usually where to find more funding. Now the Anti-Corruption Action Centre, or AntAC, which deals with only domestic corruption, has come under digital attack from high-tech Israeli mercenaries. And the U.S. president’s personal lawyer has dragged AntAC into a dizzying, high-stakes disinformation campaign as he seeks to invent a narrative to further Trump’s chances in the 2020 elections.

Roles are reversing, disinformation is coming from all sides, authoritarian tech is being pushed from and adopted in every direction, illiberal and liberal democracies, corrupt and rule-of-law governments, and the technologies they embrace are more entangled than ever.

In fact, authoritarian and liberal governments are moving toward each other lickety-split in their implementation of artificial intelligence and facial recognition to spy on their citizens and to build a pervasive surveillance system. More than 75 countries have developed or acquired AI technology so that they can surveil their citizens and monitor their public space. Huawei, Hikvision, NEC Corp, and IBM are the corporations around the world selling the most AI for surveillance (with Huawei far in the lead).