Canada Is Loath to Be the Next Venezuela

 

 

“A few months after capturing Venezuela's leader, President Trump mused about making it the 51st state.

 

Venezuela didn't end up an American state. It is more of a vassal, or protectorate, or a colony. Call it what you will, it isn't sovereign. Its interim president, Delcy Rodriguez, was installed by the Americans and serves at their pleasure. American troops come and go at will. Its oil revenue flows through the U.S. Treasury. And last week, Trump boasted that the U.S. had taken control of a sizable chunk of its oil reserves at zero cost.

 

Venezuela is the most extreme manifestation of Trump's "Donroe" doctrine. Under that reformulation of the 1823 Monroe Doctrine, the U.S. seeks dominance of the Western Hemisphere.

 

Trump has intervened in Argentina's markets to help an ally while meddling in the elections of Brazil and Colombia in hopes of defeating adversaries. In Venezuela, Trump has prioritized control of oil over the restoration of democracy.

 

Trump's treatment of Venezuela helps explain why Canada broke off trade talks with the U.S. Yet, American officials seem puzzled that Prime Minister Mark Carney would risk trade war given the disproportionate cost Canada is likely to bear. "He's not doing what's best for the Canadian people," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent declared Monday.

 

For Carney, it isn't about economic cost, but sovereignty. "No Canadian leader wants to be the Delcy Rodriguez of the North," Chrystia Freeland, Canada's former deputy prime minister, told CNBC last week.

 

Since World War II, the U.S. pursued trade liberalization as a goal in and of itself, a way to generate mutual benefit and strengthen ties with allies. In that spirit, Canada in the 1980s took what it called a "leap of faith" and negotiated a free-trade deal with the U.S.

 

President Ronald Reagan described the resulting pact as a "model for the future of this country and the world." A few years later, Mexico joined. The North American Free Trade Agreement was followed by numerous new bilateral pacts slashing trade barriers.

 

When Trump came to office in 2017, he set out to reverse the free-trade tide. His trade representative, Robert Lighthizer, was anti-free trade and pro-tariff. But he also knew his counterparts had to be able to sell a deal politically back home. The resulting U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which replaced Nafta, and deals with Japan and South Korea favored the U.S., but were nonetheless embraced by its partners.

 

In his second term Trump's approach was completely different. Not only did he hit almost everyone with steep tariffs, he regularly linked the levies to political or territorial goals. He threatened Colombia with tariffs for refusing to take deportees, Brazil for prosecuting his ally, former President Jair Bolsonaro, and Europe to make Denmark hand over Greenland. He said Canada could avoid tariffs by becoming the 51st state.

 

The U.S., of course, has a long history of interfering in Latin America. Still, Venezuelan-born Harvard economist Ricardo Hausmann says this was often to establish free market institutions and keep out the Soviet Union.

 

Trump's demands on Venezuela lack any such "moral compass," he said, and are simply "an illegitimate power grab." (The U.S. said it captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro for drug trafficking.)

 

Canada's stance in trade negotiations was heavily shaped by the threats against its sovereignty from Trump and his allies. In January, Bessent appeared to express support for Alberta secession. The province holds a referendum next month on the question.

 

This led Canada to view U.S. demands through a different prism than in the past. Once eager to prove itself a secure supplier of resources, Canada now worries about the leverage the U.S. could wield as the dominant customer of those resources. Canada feared U.S. tariffs on autos and trucks were intended to wipe out its industry, which Trump did little to dispel. "I don't want Canadian cars, I don't want Canadian parts, I don't want Canadian anything," Trump said on social media.

 

Like imperial Britain and modern China, Trump sees its neighbors as a source of raw materials and a market for manufactured products.

 

This shapes his negotiations. While insisting on steep tariffs on Canadian-manufactured goods, Trump has kept tariffs low on Canadian oil, and indeed pressed for greater access. Though the U.S. is the world's largest oil producer, Trump wanted to revive the Keystone XL pipeline from Canadian oil fields to American refineries.

 

Most problematic was what Canadian officials interpreted as demands for a veto over trade deals with other countries. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer disputed that, saying the U.S. wanted to ensure cheap aluminum and steel, such as from China, didn't enter the U.S. from Canada.

 

Canada in the past had suggested a common approach toward China: "Fortress North America," as Carney sometimes puts it. But the U.S. envisioned "a 'Fortress North America' where one ruler would have dictated what other inhabitants of the fortress could have done with the outside world, while feeling free to impose restrictions at will on them within the fortress," former Canadian trade negotiator Steve Verheul wrote in a commentary.

 

It's an open question whether Canadian defiance will outlast a brutal trade war. Its leaders may hope they only have to outlast Trump. Tariffs of some sort are likely here to stay; the Donroe doctrine, not so much.

 

Congress didn't clamor for control of Venezuela.

 

Meanwhile, large majorities of Americans oppose Trump's tariffs on Canada and his changing the name of Lake Ontario to "Lake America," according to an Ipsos poll.

 

Big changes in American trade policy require "some sort of societal consensus," said Doug Irwin, a trade historian at Dartmouth College. "Here it's one person, Trump, or maybe two, with [Commerce Secretary] Howard Lutnick, that have anti-Canada animus. It's hard not to see the hope of a reset."

 

There is precedent. After being hit with the Smoot-Hawley tariff in 1930, Canada elected a protectionist government that promptly retaliated. Seventeen years, a depression and world war later, Canada joined with the U.S. to create the postwar trading system.” [1]

 

1. U.S. News -- Capital Account: Canada Is Loath to Be the Next Venezuela. Ip, Greg.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 04 Sep 2026: A2. 

„Blackstone“ investuoja į kibernetinio saugumo startuolį

„Blackstone“ anksti stato investicijas į „Huskeys“ – kibernetinio saugumo startuolį, kuriantį dirbtinio intelekto vartų sergėtoją, skirtą apsaugoti įmones nuo augančio automatizuoto interneto srauto chaoso.

 

Ankstyvosios stadijos įmonės rizikos kapitalo padalinys „Blackstone Innovations Investments“ vadovavo 27 mln. dolerių vertės A serijos investicijai, kurios metu metų senumo įmonė vertinama daugiau nei 100 mln. dolerių.

 

Pasak „Huskeys“ atstovo, šis sandoris paverčia „Blackstone“ antrąja pagal dydį išorės investuotoja į „Huskeys“ po Izraelio rizikos kapitalo įmonės „10D“. Iki šiol investuotojai į startuolį investavo 35 mln. dolerių.

 

Kiti naujausio sandorio rėmėjai yra viešai kotiruojamos kibernetinio saugumo bendrovės „Zscaler“ investicijų padalinys ir „Bright Pixel Capital“, Portugalijos mažmenininko „Sonae“ rizikos kapitalo padalinys.

 

Niujorke įsikūrusią „Huskeys“ 2025 m. Tel Avive įkūrė Itai Gafni ir Roy Weisfeld, Izraelio armijos elitinio 8200 kibernetinio saugumo padalinio veteranai. Gafni yra „Huskeys“ generalinis direktorius ir Weisfeldas yra jos vyriausiasis technologijų vadovas.

 

„Huskeys“ – pavadinta dėl įkūrėjų meilės haskiams ir žaismo su „raktais“, reikalingais interneto apsaugai, – veikia kaip intelektualios kibernetinio saugumo sistemų smegenys. Jos agentinis DI sluoksnis veikia ant klientų dabartinių technologijų, „analizuodamas kiekvienos programos logiką ir verslo kontekstą“, kad pastebėtų grėsmes, kurių senesnės technologijos gali nepastebėti, sakė Gafni.

 

„DI keičia žaidimo taisykles“, – sakė jis ir pridūrė, kad didžiąją dalį internetinio srauto dabar valdo DI agentai, o ne žmonės, todėl sunkiau pastebėti blogą srautą. Jis lygina tai, ką „Huskeys“ daro interneto saugumui, su seno automobilio modernizavimu.

 

„Aš tik pakeičiu variklį, ir dabar jūs turite pažangiausią automobilį pasaulyje“, – sakė Gafni.

 

Remiantis neseniai paskelbta „International Business Machines“ ataskaita, DI sukeltų kenkėjiškų įsilaužimų skaičius per metus iki vasario mėnesio išaugo apie 56 %, o DI sukeltos atakos vidutiniškai padidino išlaidas apie 1 mln. USD.

 

DI įrankiai, tokie kaip „Anthropic“ „Mythos“, randa programinės įrangos klaidų precedento neturinčiu greičiu, kurį saugumo tyrėjai vadina „Bugmageddon“, leidžiančiu nusikaltėliams greičiau išnaudoti pažeidžiamumus.

 

Saugumo konfigūracijos klaidos, tokios kaip Teisingumo departamento 2019 m. „Capital One Financial“ atliktoje masinių duomenų vagysčių ataskaitoje pabrėžta, išlieka viena pagrindinių duomenų nutekėjimo priežasčių.

 

„Blackstone“ vyresnysis generalinis direktorius Adamas Fletcheris teigė, kad įmonės nebegali pasikliauti vieno sluoksnio kibernetinio saugumo apsauga ir turi pasikliauti keliais kompensuojančių kontrolės sluoksniais, kur net jei vienas sluoksnis sugenda, įsikiša kiti sluoksniai.

 

Pernelyg griežtos užkardos gali blokuoti tikrus klientus ir kainuoti įmonėms pinigus.

 

Tačiau per didelis srauto kiekis kelia pavojų reputacijai, nes nusikaltėliai gali pasinaudoti pažeidžiamumais, kad pasiektų konfidencialius duomenis, sakė Fletcheris, kuris vadovavo investicijoms kartu su Davidu Kimu, „Blackstone Innovations Investments“ viceprezidentu.

 

„Huskeys“ suteikia esminį vartininko lygmenį, kuris tai sprendžia, sakė Fletcheris, pateikdamas pavyzdį apie paties „Blackstone“ investuotojų portalą: „Blackstone“ turi užtikrinti, kad jos svetainė būtų prieinama teisėtiems vartotojams, kartu apsaugodama konfidencialius duomenis.

 

Ankstyvojo rizikos kapitalo etapo „Blackstone“ investicijų grupė rėmė tokias įmones kaip finansinių technologijų įmonės. „iCapital“, kurios vertė praėjusiais metais siekė daugiau nei 7,5 mlrd. JAV dolerių, ir „Canoe Intelligence“, kurią įsigyja „Bloomberg“.

 

Nuo „Huskeys“ veiklos pradžios 2026 m. pradžioje jos pajamos, palyginti su praėjusiu ketvirčiu, išaugo maždaug keturis kartus, o klientų augimas – maždaug penkis kartus, teigė bendrovė.

 

Bendrovė planuoja plėsti pardavimų ir rinkodaros veiklą JAV ir per pastaruosius du mėnesius maždaug padvigubino darbuotojų skaičių iki beveik 40, sakė Gafni. „Huskeys“ metinės pajamos iš sutarčių siekia šešiaženklę sumą, o tai investuotojams suteikia informacijos apie pasikartojančias prenumeratos pajamas per 12 mėnesių, teigia bendrovės atstovas.

 

Didžiąją dalį pajamų sudaro įmonės, kurios tiesiogiai parduoda vartotojams, pavyzdžiui, „TikTok“, sakė Gafni. Tačiau, anot jo, išmaniosios smegenys gali būti įdiegtos įvairiose pramonės šakose – nuo sveikatos priežiūros iki energetikos. „Tai problema, su kuria susiduria visi“, – sakė Fletcheris. „Tai kažkas, kam jau seniai labai trūksta inovacijų.“

 

Jis pridūrė, kad „Huskeys“ siūlo „patobulintą lygmenį“ „apsauga nuo tokių atakų, kurios, mūsų manymu, artėja.“

 

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Maria Armental rašo „WSJ Pro Private Equity“. [A]

 

Palyginkime kibernetinio saugumo startuolį „Huskeys“ su artimiausiais Kinijos konkurentais pagal galimybes ir kainą.

 

Santrauka

Lyginant Izraelio kibernetinio saugumo startuolį „Huskeys“ su Kinijos dirbtinio intelekto modeliais, tokiais kaip „Z.ai“ GLM 5.3 ir „Moonshot“ Kimi K3, susiduriame su dviem visiškai skirtingomis kibernetinio saugumo architektūrinėmis paradigmomis.

• „Huskeys“ yra specializuota, įmonės lygio tinklo krašto saugumo valdymo (NESM) platforma, kuri prideda aktyvų dirbtinio intelekto vartininko sluoksnį prie esamos žiniatinklio programų užkardos, (WAF) infrastruktūra. Ji specialiai sukurta tam, kad realiuoju laiku blokuotų automatizuotą, kenkėjišką DI srautą.

 

• Kinijos atvirojo svorio konkurentai yra didžiulės, bendrosios paskirties pagrindinės LLM, turinčios pažangiausias programinės įrangos pažeidžiamumo, kodavimo ir kibernetinio puolimo galimybes. Tai yra atsisiunčiami dvejetainiai failai, kuriuos galima tiksliai suderinti arba talpinti vietoje.

 

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Tiesioginis palyginimas: „Huskeys“ ir Kinijos atvirojo svorio modeliai

Metrinė / dimensijų „Huskeys“ (startuolių platforma) Kinijos atvirojo svorio modeliai (GLM 5.3 / Kimi K3)

Pagrindinė architektūra Uždarojo kodo įmonės SaaS; Agentinis DI sluoksnis, sukurtas ant CDN/WAF. Atvirojo svorio pagrindiniai modeliai (atsisiunčiami matematiniai parametrai).

Pagrindinis kibernetinis dėmesys Tinklo gynyba ir srauto triažas: atskirti žmones, automatizuotus blogus veikėjus ir teisėtus DI agentus. Pažeidžiamumų aptikimas ir kodo analizė: kodų bazių nuskaitymas ieškant klaidų, pataisų rašymas arba išnaudojimų kūrimas.

Realiojo laiko kraštinių pažeidimų mažinimo įtaisas. Blokuoja kenkėjiškas užklausas, tvarko orkestravimą ir dinamiškai diegia virtualų pataisymą. Reikalingas pritaikytas srautas. Modeliai negali blokuoti srauto tiesiogiai; jie turi būti įtraukti į pritaikytus saugumo srautus.

 

Išvados / eksploatavimo išlaidos. Numatomas įmonės prenumeratos / SaaS modelis, susietas su srautu / mastu. 60–90 % pigesnė žetonų kaina nei JAV pasienio modeliai, tačiau reikalinga talpinimo infrastruktūra.

 

Atitiktis ir jurisdikcija. Apsaugota Vakarų rizikos kapitalo („Blackstone“, „Zscaler“, „Okta“). Galima atitikties / reguliavimo rizika; raginimai gali patekti į Kinijos duomenų jurisdikciją, jei naudojamos talpinamos API.

 

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Galimybių išsami apžvalga

1. „Huskeys“: realaus laiko srauto vartininkas

„Huskeys“ veikia tinklo krašte. Įkurta Izraelio elitinio 8200 padalinio veteranų, startuolio platforma skirta didžiuliam artėjančiam pokyčiui: pasauliui, kuriame iki 70 % interneto srauto valdo dirbtinio intelekto agentai, o ne žmonės.

• Autonominė krašto apsauga: Užuot ieškojusi tradicinių statinių įsilaužimo parašų, „Huskeys“ naudoja aktyvų dirbtinio intelekto sluoksnį, kad įvertintų automatizuoto tinklo srauto ketinimus.

 

• Virtualus pataisymas ir orkestravimas: Jis nuolat realiuoju laiku perrašo WAF politiką, kad neutralizuotų naujas, automatizuotas atakas nepažeisdamas teisėtos verslo logikos.

 

• Įmonės patvirtinimas: Tokios didelės įmonės kaip „TikTok“, „Legoland“ ir „Hugging Face“ aktyviai naudoja „Huskeys“, kad apdorotų trilijonus žiniatinklio užklausų.

 

2. Kinijos atviri svoriai: neapdoroti analitiniai varikliai

Tokie modeliai kaip „Z.ai“ GLM 5.3 ir „Moonshot“ Kimi K3 yra neapdoroto samprotavimo varikliai. Jie pasyviai nestebi tinklų; vietoj to jie tarnauja kaip labai pajėgūs analitikai arba automatizuoti įsilaužėliai.

 

• Necenzūruotas saugumo incidentų sprendimas: Vakarų pasienio uždari modeliai (pvz., „OpenAI“ ar „Anthropic“) turi griežtas saugos priemones, dėl kurių jie dažnai atsisako kibernetinės teismo ekspertizės užduočių, bijodami padėti įsilaužėliui.

 

Pažymėtina, kad didelio įsilaužimo į „Hugging Face“ metu saugumo komanda naudojo GLM-5.2, nes ji neatsisakė analizuoti įsilaužimo duomenis.

 

• Pažangus kibernetinis samprotavimas: Lyginamieji tyrimai rodo, kad tokie modeliai kaip „Kimi K3“ gali sėkmingai vykdyti autonomines kibernetines kampanijas – pritaikyti spragas unikalioms aplinkoms ir patvirtinti atakų veiksmus – atsilikdami nuo Vakarų uždarų milžinų (pvz., „Anthropic“ „Mythos“) tik maždaug 6 mėnesiais.

 

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Kainodara ir diegimo ekonomika

• „Huskeys“ kainodara: Remiama 27 mln. USD vertės „Blackstone“ vadovaujamos A serijos, „Huskeys“ parduoda visą produktų ekosistemą. Jūs mokate už integraciją, apsaugą realiuoju laiku ir mažesnes eksploatacines išlaidas (sumažintas klaidingai teigiamas rezultatas saugumo komandoms). Jums nereikia valdyti serverių, kad galėtumėte talpinti DI.

• Kinijos atvirojo svorio kainodara: Ji iš esmės sutrikdo rinkos ekonomiką. Jei prie jos prisijungiama per talpinamas API, Kinijos modeliai yra 60–90 % pigesni nei „OpenAI“ ar „Anthropic“ atitikmenys. Jei naudojama kaip atvirojo svorio platforma, programinės įrangos licencija yra nemokama, o tai reiškia, kad jūsų vienintelės išlaidos yra vidinė infrastruktūra (GPU skaičiavimo klasteriai) ir inžinierių talentai, reikalingi saugumo įrankiams aplink juos sukurti.

 

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Strateginis pasirinkimas

Jei jūsų tikslas yra apsaugoti įmonės programą nuo neteisėtų dirbtinio intelekto robotų nuskaitymo ar atakų, „Huskeys“ siūlo paruoštą, suderinamą sprendimą, pagrįstą aukščiausios klasės rizikos kapitalo saugumo vardais.

 

Jei jūsų tikslas yra sukurti pasirinktinį vidinį įrankį programinės įrangos kodui audituoti, nulinės dienos pažeidžiamumams rasti arba vidinei raudonos/mėlynos komandos smėlio dėžei valdyti, vietinis kiniško atvirojo svorio modelio diegimas suteikia beveik preliminarias galimybes už nedidelę kainos dalį – jei tai leidžia jūsų įmonės atitikties politika.

 

Ar kas nors sukūrė atvirojo svorio platformos agentą, pagrįstą kiniškais atvirojo svorio dirbtinio intelekto modeliais, tokiais kaip Z.ai GLM 5.3 arba Moonshot Kimi K3 agentas, kuris gali atlikti tai, ką daro „Huskeys“?

 

Taip, kūrėjai derina tokius modelius kaip GLM-5.3 ir Kimi K3 su atvirojo svorio agentų paketais, kad galėtų spręsti ilgalaikes užduotis, nors ir dubliuoja „Huskeys“ specifinį tinklo krašto saugumo valdymą (NESM), skirtą automatizuotiems dirbtinio intelekto srauto reikalavimams blokuoti reikia  specializuotos konfigūracijos.

 

Atvirojo svorio agentai ir galimybės

 

• GLM-5.3 orkestravimas: Z.ai GLM-5.3 dažnai sujungiamas su Z-code paketu autonominiam kodavimui ir daugiapakopėms kibernetinio saugumo eksploatavimo užduotims.

 

• Kimi K3 orkestravimas: Moonshot AI Kimi K3 turi 1 milijono žetonų kontekstinį langą ir Kimi Delta dėmesį, todėl jis populiarus daugiafunkcinėms procedūroms vykdyti ir saugyklų naršymui.

 

• „Huskeys“ spraga: Nors šie atvirojo svorio modeliai atitinka pažangiausius argumentus, 2,8 trilijono parametrų modelio, pvz., K3, paleidimas lokaliai realiuoju laiku filtruojant kraštus reikalauja didžiulės įmonės infrastruktūros (aparatinės įrangos pirkimas: nuo 1,9 mln. iki 3 000 000 USD iš anksto stelažo infrastruktūrai. Eksploatavimo išlaidos: apie 140 000 USD ir daugiau per metus vien tik elektros energijos ir aušinimo infrastruktūros pridėtinės išlaidos (sunaudojama maždaug 132 kW vienam stelažui)), o tai reiškia, kad dauguma saugumo agentų konfigūracijų priklauso nuo talpinamų API, o ne nuo visiškai vietinio savarankiško talpinimo.

 

Savarankiškas serverių talpinimas apsaugo jus nuo „Huskeys“ šnipinėjimo, siekiant išgauti jūsų komercines paslaptis. Į tai verta investuoti, jei galite sau tai leisti. Svarbu, kad jums nereikėtų mokėti niekam už žetonus.

 

 

 

A. Blackstone Invests in Cyber Startup. Armental, Maria.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 03 Sep 2026: B4. 

 

Blackstone Invests in Cybersecurity Startup

 

“Blackstone is placing an early bet on Huskeys, a cybersecurity startup building an artificial intelligence gatekeeper to protect companies from the growing chaos of automated web traffic.

 

The firm's early-stage venture-capital arm, Blackstone Innovations Investments, led a $27 million Series A investment that values the year-old company at more than $100 million.

 

The deal makes Blackstone the second-largest outside investor in Huskeys, behind Israeli venture-capital firm 10D, according to a Huskeys representative. So far, investors have put $35 million into the startup.

 

Other backers in the most recent transaction include the investment arm of publicly traded cybersecurity company Zscaler and Bright Pixel Capital, the venture arm of Portuguese retailer Sonae.

 

New York-based Huskeys was founded in Tel Aviv in 2025 by Itai Gafni and Roy Weisfeld, veterans of the Israeli army's elite Unit 8200 cybersecurity division. Gafni is Huskeys' chief executive and Weisfeld is its chief technology officer.

 

Huskeys -- named for the founders' love of husky dogs and a play on the "keys" required to secure the web -- acts as an intelligent brain for cybersecurity systems. Its agentic AI layer sits on top of clients' current technology, "analyzing the logic and the business context behind every application" to spot threats that older technology might miss, Gafni said.

 

"AI is changing the game," he said, adding that the bulk of online traffic now is driven by AI agents, as opposed to people, making it harder to spot bad traffic. He compares what Huskeys does for web security to retrofitting an old car.

 

"I'm just replacing the engine, and now you have the most advanced car in the world," Gafni said.

 

The number of AI-driven malicious breaches rose by about 56% in the year through February, with AI-driven attacks driving up costs by about $1 million on average, according to a recent report from International Business Machines.

 

AI tools like Anthropic's Mythos are finding software bugs at an unprecedented rate, what security researchers call "Bugmageddon," allowing criminals to exploit vulnerabilities faster.

 

Security misconfigurations, such as the one the Justice Department highlighted in Capital One Financial's 2019 massive data theft, remain one of the top causes of data breaches.

 

Blackstone Senior Managing Director Adam Fletcher said companies can no longer rely on single-layer cybersecurity defenses and must instead rely on multiple layers of compensating controls, where even if one layer fails, other layers step in.

 

Overly restrictive firewalls can block real customers, costing companies money.

 

 But letting too much traffic in poses a reputational risk as criminals could exploit vulnerabilities to access confidential data, said Fletcher, who led the investment with David Kim, a vice president at Blackstone Innovations Investments.

 

Huskeys provides an essential gatekeeper layer that addresses that, Fletcher said, citing Blackstone's own investor portal as an example: Blackstone needs to keep its website accessible to legitimate users while protecting confidential data.

 

Blackstone's early venture-stage investment group has backed such businesses as financial-technology companies iCapital, valued at more than $7.5 billion as of last year, and Canoe Intelligence, which is being acquired by Bloomberg.

 

Since Huskeys started doing business in early 2026, its revenue has roughly quadrupled quarter-on-quarter while customer growth has roughly quintupled, the company said.

 

The company plans to build a sales and marketing presence in the U.S. and has roughly doubled the number of employees in the last two months to nearly 40, said Gafni. Huskeys generates annual contract revenue in a six-figure dollar range, which gives investors an indication of recurring subscription revenue over 12 months, according to a company representative.

 

Companies that sell directly to consumers, like TikTok, account for most of its revenue, Gafni said. But the intelligent brain, he said, can be implemented across industries, from healthcare to energy. "This is a problem that everyone has," Fletcher said. "It's something that really has been woefully lacking innovation for a long time."

 

He added that Huskeys offers "an enhanced layer of defense against the types of attacks that we believe are coming."

 

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Maria Armental writes for WSJ Pro Private Equity.” [A]

 

 

Let's compare Huskeys, a cybersecurity startup, with closest Chinese open-weights competitors on capabilities and price

 

 

 Executive Summary

When comparing the Israeli cybersecurity startup Huskeys against Chinese open-weights AI models like Z.ai's GLM 5.3 and Moonshot's Kimi K3, you are looking at two entirely different architectural paradigms for cybersecurity.

•           Huskeys is a specialized, enterprise-grade Network Edge Security Management (NESM) platform that adds an active AI gatekeeper layer to existing Web Application Firewall (WAF) infrastructure. It is purpose-built to block automated, malicious AI traffic in real time.

•           Chinese Open-Weights Competitors are massive, general-purpose foundational LLMs that possess state-of-the-art software vulnerability, coding, and cyber-offensive capabilities. They are downloadable binaries that can be fine-tuned or hosted locally.

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 Direct Comparison: Huskeys vs. Chinese Open-Weights

Metric / Dimension   Huskeys (Startup Platform) Chinese Open-Weights (GLM 5.3 / Kimi K3)

Primary Architecture Closed-source enterprise SaaS; Agentic AI layer built on top of CDN/WAF.                  Open-weight foundation models (downloadable mathematical parameters).

Core Cyber Focus    Network defense & traffic triage: Differentiating between human, automated bad actors, and legitimate AI agents.   Vulnerability discovery & code analysis: Scanning codebases for bugs, writing patches, or crafting exploits.

Real-time Edge Mitigation  Native. Blocks malicious queries, handles orchestration, and deploys virtual patching dynamically.          Requires custom pipeline. Models cannot block traffic natively; they must be wrapped in custom security pipelines.

Inference/Running Cost      Predictable enterprise subscription/SaaS model tied to traffic/scale.            60% to 90% cheaper token cost than US frontier models, but requires hosting infrastructure.

Compliance & Jurisdiction  Secured under Western venture backing (Blackstone, Zscaler, Okta).            Potential compliance/regulatory risk; prompts can fall under Chinese data jurisdiction if using hosted APIs.

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 Capabilities Deep Dive

1. Huskeys: The Real-Time Traffic Gatekeeper

Huskeys operates at the network edge. Founded by veterans of Israel’s elite Unit 8200, the startup's platform addresses a massive upcoming shift: a world where up to 70% of internet traffic is driven by AI agents rather than humans.

•           Autonomous Edge Defense: Instead of looking for traditional static hacking signatures, Huskeys uses an active AI layer to judge the intent of automated network traffic.

•           Virtual Patching & Orchestration: It continuously rewrites WAF policies in real time to neutralize novel, automated attacks without breaking legitimate business logic.

•           Enterprise Validation: Major firms like TikTok, Legoland, and Hugging Face actively use Huskeys to process trillions of web requests.

2. Chinese Open Weights: The Raw Analytic Engines

Models like Z.ai's GLM 5.3 and Moonshot’s Kimi K3 are raw reasoning engines. They do not passively monitor networks; instead, they serve as highly capable analysts or automated hackers.

•           Uncensored Security Incident Resolution: Western frontier closed models (like OpenAI or Anthropic) have rigid safety guardrails that often cause them to refuse cyber-forensic tasks out of fear of assisting a hacker.

 

Notably, during a major hack on Hugging Face, the security team used GLM-5.2 because it didn't refuse to parse the breach data.

 

•           Advanced Cyber-Reasoning: Benchmarks show models like Kimi K3 can successfully execute autonomous cyber campaigns—adapting exploits to unique environments and validating attack steps—trailing Western closed giants (like Anthropic's Mythos) by only about 6 months.

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 Pricing & Deployment Economics

•           Huskeys Pricing: Backed by a $27M Series A led by Blackstone, Huskeys sells a full product ecosystem. You pay for the integration, real-time protection, and lower operational overhead (reduced false positives for security teams). You do not need to manage servers to host the AI.

•           Chinese Open Weights Pricing: They are fundamentally disrupting market economics. If accessed via hosted APIs, Chinese models run 60% to 90% cheaper than OpenAI or Anthropic equivalents. If used as open-weights, the software license is free, meaning your only expenses are the internal infrastructure (GPU compute clusters) and the engineering talent required to build security tools around them.

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 The Strategic Choice

If your goal is to protect an enterprise application from being scraped or attacked by rogue AI bots, Huskeys provides an out-of-the-box, compliant solution backed by top-tier venture security names.

If your goal is to build a custom internal tool to audit software code, find zero-day vulnerabilities, or operate an internal red-team/blue-team sandbox, deploying a Chinese open-weight model locally provides near-frontier capabilities at a fraction of the cost—provided your corporate compliance policy permits it.

 

Has anybody designed open weight's agent, based on Chinese open-weights AI models like Z.ai's GLM 5.3 or Moonshot's Kimi K3, agent, that is able to do what Huskeys does?

 

Yes, developers are pairing models like GLM-5.3 and Kimi K3 with open-weight agent harnesses to tackle long-horizon tasks, though duplicating Huskeys' specific network-edge security management (NESM) for blocking automated AI traffic requires specialized setups.

Open-Weight Agents and Capabilities

 

•     GLM-5.3 Orchestration: Z.ai’s GLM-5.3 is frequently coupled with the Z-code harness for autonomous coding and multi-step cybersecurity exploitation tasks.

 

•     Kimi K3 Orchestration: Moonshot AI's Kimi K3 features a 1-million-token context window and Kimi Delta Attention, making it popular for multi-tool procedure execution and repository navigation.

 

•           The Huskeys Gap: While these open-weight models match frontier reasoning, running a 2.8-trillion-parameter model like K3 locally for real-time edge filtering requires massive enterprise infrastructure (hardware purchase: $1.9 million to $3,000,000 upfront for the rack infrastructure. operational costs: around $140,000+ per year purely in electricity and cooling infrastructure overhead (drawing roughly 132 kW per rack)), meaning most security agent setups rely on hosted APIs rather than fully local self-hosting. [1]

 

Self-hosting protects you from Huskeys spying on your trade secrets. This is worth investing in, if you can afford it. Important, that you don’t have to pay anybody for tokens.

 

 

A. Blackstone Invests in Cyber Startup. Armental, Maria.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 03 Sep 2026: B4. 

Kuris iš silpnų idiotų, gyvenančių ES, nebuvo nužudytas dėl oro kondicionierių nebuvimo, bus nužudytas šalčio – Vakarų Europai žiemą gresia dujų trūkumas, atidėliojant pirkimus: jūsų balsas rinkimuose svarbus

Vakarų Europai gresia didelė gamtinių dujų tiekimo rizika, artėjant žiemos šildymo sezonui, kai saugyklų lygis yra žemiausias per 18–20 metų. Pažeidžiamumas kyla dėl to, kad Europos komunalinės įmonės sąmoningai atidėlioja žiemos kuro pirkimus pavasarį ir vasarą. Jos tikėjosi, kad karas Artimuosiuose Rytuose greitai baigsis ir atkurs Kataro suskystintų gamtinių dujų (SGD) srautą per užblokuotą Hormūzo sąsiaurį. Vietoj to, tiekimas tebėra sustabdytas, todėl Europa yra priversta dalyvauti brangiame pasauliniame konkurse su Azija dėl alternatyvių žiemos energijos atsargų.

Dabartinė situacija atskleidžia kritinę įtampą tiek vasaros, tiek žiemos visuomenės sveikatos apsaugos tinkluose:

Vasaros krizė: oro kondicionierių deficitas

• Prasta oro kondicionierių infrastruktūra: Istoriškai mažiau nei 20 % Europos namų ūkių turi oro kondicionierius. Didžiosiose šalyse, tokiose kaip Vokietija ir JK, oro kondicionierių paplitimas namų ūkiuose yra mažesnis nei 5 %.

• Ekstremalių karščių aukos: Užsitęsusios vasaros karščio bangos pasirodė esančios labai mirtinos pažeidžiamoms gyventojų grupėms, įskaitant pagyvenusius žmones ir chroniškai sergančius asmenis. Neturint tinkamų aušinimo sistemų, ankstesnėmis atšiauriomis vasaromis Europoje su karščiu susijusių mirčių skaičius siekė dešimtis tūkstančių.

 

Žiemos rizika: rekordiškai mažos dujų atsargos

• Išeikvotos saugyklos: ES dujų saugyklos užpildytos tik 65–66 % – tai žemiausias sezoninis lygis per beveik du dešimtmečius. Kad pasiektų minimalias saugias ribas, Europos pirkėjai turi skubiai užsitikrinti milijardus dolerių vertės SGD.

 

• Nacionaliniai pažeidžiamumai: Remiantis „Gas Infrastructure Europe“ duomenimis, regioninis energetikos centras Vokietija turi tik maždaug pusiau užpildytas saugyklas, o svarbiausios dujotiekio jungtys Belgijoje ir Nyderlanduose yra maždaug 51 % ir 45 % pajėgumu.

 

• „Atšalimo bangos“ grėsmė: Nors Europos Komisija išreiškė techninį pasitikėjimą, kad 80 % saugojimo tikslas yra pasiekiamas, bet koks netikėtas ar užsitęsęs žiemos atšalimas greitai išeikvos šias mažesnes atsargas. Tai kelia grėsmę staigiai išaugsioms elektros energijos ir šildymo sąskaitoms paprastiems namų ūkiams.

 

„Europa atidėjo gamtinių dujų pirkimą žiemai, lažindamasi, kad karas su Iranu greitai baigsis ir kainos sumažės.

 

Europos Sąjungos dujų saugyklos užpildytos tik 65 proc. – tai žemiausias lygis vasaros pabaigoje per mažiausiai 15 metų. Įmonės nenoriai pirko dujas saugojimui, nes tikėjosi, kad Kataras, antras pagal dydį suskystintų gamtinių dujų eksportuotojas pasaulyje, šiais metais, kai konfliktas nurims, galės atnaujinti įprastus tiekimus per Hormūzo sąsiaurį.

 

Dabar mažėja perspektyvos, kad karas iki žiemos bus aiškiai nutrauktas, todėl SGD kainos šią savaitę pasiekė 3,5 metų aukštumas. Artėjant žemyno žiemos šildymo sezonui, kai dujų paklausa pasiekia piką, Europos pirkėjai yra priversti priimti brangesnes gamtines dujas. Jie varžosi tarpusavyje ir su Azijos pirkėjais, kurie dabar agresyviai stabdo atsargas.

 

„Europa artėja prie žiemos, kai jos dujų talpyklos yra rekordiškai žemos, o rinkos kainos yra tokios, tarsi tai būtų gerai“, – sakė Simone Turri, MET Vakarų Europos dujų skyriaus vadovė. „Group“ – Šveicarijoje įsikūrusi energijos prekybos įmonė. „Kažkas turi pasiduoti.“

 

Žemas kaupiamųjų dujų kiekis atspindi ryškų nukrypimą nuo Europos energetinio saugumo strategijos, kuri buvo parengta prieš ketverius metus, kai ES elito sankcijos po įvykių Ukrainoje sumažino Europos kuro atsargas ir sukėlė energetikos krizę. ES priėmė taisykles, reikalaujančias, kad šalys iki lapkričio 1 d. užpildytų savo saugyklas bent 90 %.

 

Tačiau šį pavasarį Europos Komisija, ES vykdomoji institucija, pareiškė, kad valstybės narės turėtų siekti užpildyti saugyklas iki 80 %, o ne 90 %, suteikdama joms lankstumo atidėti kai kuriuos dujų pirkimus kylant kainoms. Tuo metu pareigūnai tikėjosi, kad karas greitai baigsis, nes prezidentas Trumpas ne kartą pareiškė, kad abi šalys yra arti susitarimo.

 

Tačiau konfliktas tęsėsi, o navigacija Hormūzo sąsiauryje išlieka įtempta. JAV ir Iranas šią savaitę pirmą kartą per daugiau nei mėnesį apšaudė vienas kitą, o tanklaiviai ir kiti komerciniai laivai, plaukiantys per sąsiaurį, ir toliau yra atakuojami.

 

Žalios naftos siuntos sugebėjo praslysti, Tačiau, remiantis laivų sekimo tarnybos „Kpler“ duomenimis, iš sąsiaurio išplaukė tik keletas SGD tanklaivių. Kataro kuro skystinimo įrenginių, esančių pramoniniame Ras Laffano mieste, pajėgumus sunku didinti ir mažinti po kiekvieno susišaudymo.

 

„Qatar Energy“ pradėjo didinti gamybą birželio mėnesį, kai kovos aprimo, tačiau po to, kai abi pusės vėl apsikeitė ugnimi, atsitraukė, teigė Waelis Sawanas, „Shell“, kuriai priklauso 30 proc. vienos iš SGD gamybos linijų Ras Laffane, generalinis direktorius.

 

Tiek Ras Laffanas, tiek Jungtinių Arabų Emyratų SGD gamykla Daso saloje veikė didžiąją dalį karo, bet daug mažesnėmis kainomis, teigė JP Lacouture, gamtinių dujų analitikas iš „Kpler“. Terminiai vaizdai rodo, kad šešios iš 14 „Ras Laffan“ gamybos linijų veikia, sakė jis.

 

Europos dujų saugyklos yra išsibarsčiusios po visą žemyną – nuo ​​rezervuarų parkų iki didžiulių požeminių urvų. ES importuoja beveik visas savo dujas, o šios saugyklos leidžia šalims sukaupti žiemos rezervą pavasarį ir vasarą, kai dujos paprastai yra pigesnės. Tačiau šiais metais vasarą dujos buvo brangesnės, todėl nebuvo skatinama jas saugoti.

 

Europa yra mažiau pažeidžiama dujų rinkos sutrikimų nei prieš ketverius metus, kai įvyko įvykiai Ukrainoje ir prasidėjo ES elito sankcijos. Nuo to laiko dujų suvartojimas žemyne ​​sumažėjo apie 20 %. Dėl didelio atsinaujinančiųjų energijos šaltinių naudojimo sumažėjo elektros energijos gamybai sunaudojamų dujų kiekis; gamyklos arba užsidarė, arba tapo efektyvesnės dujų naudojimo atžvilgiu; o namų ūkiai sumažino termostatus.

 

„90 % tikslas buvo nustatytas 2021 metams“, – teigė Benas McWilliamsas, energetikos analitikas iš Briuselio analitinio centro „Bruegel“. „Nebereikia prasmės pildyti saugyklų ten, kur jos buvo anksčiau.“

 

Dujų prekiautojai taip pat tikisi naujo SGD tiekimo iš JAV, didžiausios pasaulyje SGD eksportuotojos. „Golden Pass LNG“ Teksase didina gamybą, o „Cheniere Energy“ turėtų padidinti gamybą iš savo terminalo Korpus Kristi mieste, Teksase.

 

„Aukštesnės kainos, lėtesnis saugyklų atstatymas Europoje ir nuolatinis geopolitinis neapibrėžtumas rodo, kad rinka išlieka nestabili“, – rugpjūtį investuotojams sakė „Cheniere“ vykdomasis viceprezidentas Anatolis Feyginas. „Net jei SGD srautai Artimuosiuose Rytuose netrukus normalizuosis, šiuo metu tikimės, kad Europai bus sunku pasiekti 80 % saugyklų tikslą iki žiemos pradžios.“

 

Nyderlandų TTF dujų ateities sandorių, regiono etalono, kaina šią savaitę viršijo 71 eurą už megavatvalandę, tai yra maždaug 82 JAV dolerius, daugiau nei dvigubai padvigubėjusi šiais metais. Kainos vis dar gerokai mažesnės nei 2022 m. Ukrainos krizės metu.

 

Vienas iš svarbių veiksnių, veikiančių Europai palankiai, gali būti orai. Meteorologai teigia, kad atėjo Super El Ninjo – orų reiškinys, kuriam būdinga itin šilta temperatūra atogrąžų Ramiajame vandenyne – ir tęsis iki kitų metų. Tikimasi, kad dėl šio reiškinio Europoje žiemos temperatūra bus neįprastai šilta, o tai sumažins žemyno dujų paklausą.

 

Praėjusio mėnesio Pasaulio meteorologijos organizacijos temperatūros prognozė „prognozuoja didžiulę tikimybę, kad daugumoje sausumos teritorijų temperatūra bus aukštesnė už vidutinę“. [1]

 

Jei norite dar pagyventi ES, eikite ir jūsų balsavimo metu išvykite jūsų lyderius iš valdžios.

 

 

 

1. Europe Risks Gas Shortfall In Winter by Delaying Buys. Dalton, Matthew.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 03 Sep 2026: B6. 

Who of Weak Idiots, Living in the EU, Was Not Killed by the Absence of AC Units, Will Be Killed by Cold - Western Europe Risks Gas Shortfall In Winter by Delaying Buys: Your Vote Matters

 

Western Europe faces a severe natural gas supply risk as it heads into the winter heating season with storage levels languishing at an 18-to-20-year low. The vulnerability stems from European utilities deliberately delaying their winter fuel purchases over the spring and summer. They wagered that the war in the Middle East would quickly end and restore the flow of Qatari liquefied natural gas (LNG) through the blocked Strait of Hormuz. Instead, supplies remain at a standstill, forcing Europe into an expensive global bidding war with Asia to secure alternative winter energy reserves.

The current situation reveals critical strain across both summer and winter public health safety nets:

The Summer Crisis: Air Conditioning Deficit

•           Low AC Infrastructure: Historically, less than 20% of European households have air conditioning. In major countries like Germany and the UK, household AC penetration falls below 5%.

•           Extreme Heat Toll: Prolonged summer heatwaves have proven highly lethal to vulnerable populations, including the elderly and chronically ill. Without adequate cooling systems, previous severe summers have seen heat-related excess deaths in Europe reach tens of thousands.

The Winter Risk: Record-Low Gas Buffers

•           Depleted Storage: EU gas storage facilities are only 65% to 66% full, their lowest seasonal level in nearly two decades. To hit minimum safe thresholds, European buyers must urgently secure billions of dollars in spot LNG.

•           National Vulnerabilities: According to data from Gas Infrastructure Europe, the regional energy hub Germany has storage spaces only roughly half-full, while critical pipeline links in Belgium and the Netherlands sit near 51% and 45% capacity.

•           The "Cold Snap" Threat: While the European Commission has expressed technical confidence that an 80% storage target is achievable, any unexpected or prolonged winter cold snap will rapidly deplete these smaller buffers. This threatens skyrocketing electricity and heating bills for ordinary households.

“Europe has put off buying natural gas for the winter in a big, potentially risky bet that the Iran war will be over soon and prices will drop.

 

The European Union's gas-storage facilities are only 65% full, their lowest level toward the end of summer in at least 15 years. Companies have been reluctant to buy gas for storage because they anticipated that Qatar, the world's second-largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, would be able to resume normal shipments through the Strait of Hormuz this year once the conflict dies down.

 

Now, prospects for a clear end to the war before winter are fading, driving up LNG prices to a 3 1/2-year high this week. European buyers are being forced to accept more expensive natural gas as the Continent's winter heating season approaches, when gas demand peaks. They are bidding against each other and Asian buyers who are now aggressively locking up supplies.

 

"Europe is heading into winter with its gas tank at a record low, and the market is priced as if that's fine," said Simone Turri, head of the Western Europe gas desk at MET Group, an energy trading firm based in Switzerland. "Something has to give."

 

The low storage levels reflect a sharp deviation from Europe's energy security strategy, which was drafted four years ago when EU elite’s sanctions after events in Ukraine slashed Europe's fuel supplies and sparked an energy crisis. The EU passed rules requiring countries to fill their storage facilities to at least 90% full by Nov. 1.

 

But this spring, the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, said member states should aim to fill storage up to 80% rather than 90%, giving them the flexibility to put off some gas purchases with prices surging. At the time, officials were counting on the war to end soon, as President Trump repeatedly said the two sides were close to a deal.

 

The conflict wore on, however, and navigating the Strait of Hormuz remains fraught. The U.S. and Iran fired on each other this week for the first time in more than a month, while tankers and other commercial vessels passing through the strait continue to be attacked.

 

Crude-oil shipments have been able to slip through, but only a handful of LNG tankers have exited the strait, according to ship-tracking service Kpler. The Qatari facilities that liquefy the fuel, located in the industrial city of Ras Laffan, are difficult to ramp up and down with every exchange of fire.

 

Qatar Energy had started to ramp up production during a lull in fighting in June but backtracked after the two sides exchanged fire again, said Wael Sawan, the chief executive of Shell, which owns 30% of one of the LNG production lines in Ras Laffan.

 

Both Ras Laffan and the United Arab Emirates' LNG plant on Das Island have been operating for most of the war but at much reduced rates, said JP Lacouture, a natural-gas analyst at Kpler. Thermal imaging shows that six of Ras Laffan's 14 production lines are online, he said.

 

European gas-storage facilities are spread across the Continent, from tank farms to massive underground caverns. The EU imports almost all of its gas, and the facilities allow countries to build up a buffer for the winter during the spring and summer when gas is usually cheaper. This year, however, gas was more expensive during the summer, creating a disincentive for storage.

 

Europe is less vulnerable to gas-market disruptions than it was four years ago when the events in Ukraine and EU elite’s sanctions started. The Continent's gas consumption has dropped around 20% since then. A major build-out of renewables has lowered gas burned for power generation; factories have either closed or become more gas-efficient; and households have turned down their thermostats.

 

"The 90% target was made for 2021," said Ben McWilliams, an energy analyst at the Bruegel think tank in Brussels. "It doesn't make sense anymore to fill storage where it used to be."

 

Gas traders are also anticipating new LNG supply coming online from the U.S., the world's largest exporter of LNG. Golden Pass LNG in Texas is ramping up production and Cheniere Energy is expected to increase production from its terminal in Corpus Christi, Texas.

 

"Higher prices, Europe's slower storage rebuild and continued geopolitical uncertainty all point to a market that remains precariously balanced," Cheniere Executive Vice President Anatol Feygin told investors in August. "Even if Middle East LNG flows normalize soon, we currently expect Europe to struggle to reach the 80% storage target before the start of winter."

 

Prices of Dutch TTF gas futures, a benchmark for the region, topped 71 euros per megawatt hour this week, the equivalent of roughly $82, more than doubling this year. Prices are still far below the Ukraine crisis levels of 2022.

 

One big factor working in Europe's favor may be the weather. Meteorologists say Super El Nino -- a weather pattern characterized by extremely warm temperatures in the tropical Pacific -- has arrived and will stretch into next year. The pattern is expected to result in unusually warm winter temperatures in Europe, which would curb the Continent's gas demand.

 

Last month's temperature outlook from the World Meteorological Organization "predicts an overwhelming likelihood of above average temperatures across most land areas."” [1]

 

Go and vote your rulers out of power, if you want to survive in the EU.

 

1. Europe Risks Gas Shortfall In Winter by Delaying Buys. Dalton, Matthew.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 03 Sep 2026: B6. 

The Lithuanian State Supports Only the Rich Sycophants of the So-Called Elite: September is the time to weed out kindergartens

“The alarmingly low birth rate has united the political right and left – everyone is for families, for helping them look after their children. However, it would be good if the glaring paradoxes of the existing support were corrected at the beginning.

 

What is the kindergarten market and social policy towards them? We have a dense network of municipal kindergartens inherited from the Soviet era. It is more complicated only in Vilnius, where the number of young residents is growing. Here, children have the most difficulty fitting into municipal kindergartens, so almost a fifth attend private ones, and about 3-4 percent. children are looked after by nannies who are formally registered. There are no statistics on the scale of informal childcare, i.e. how many children are looked after by unemployed mothers or other relatives. The treatment of all these forms of childcare in social policy is different, and we will hardly find logic in that diversity.

 

Public kindergartens are maintained by municipalities, the central government contributes a subsidy of several hundred euros to cover education costs. Parents usually have to pay about 70-80 euros for their child's meals. But preschoolers (six-year-olds), regardless of family income, are entitled to free lunch, as are first- and second-graders. And for younger children in kindergartens, there is no such universal state guarantee of food. The current government has promised to expand the nutrition of primary school children to the third and fourth grades.

 

But what argument is there for not feeding kindergarteners? I have not heard it. Except that children of one age "belong" to the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports, and the other to the Ministry of Social Security, and the little ones get lost between those two nannies.

 

True, municipalities can cover the costs of feeding children of poor families from their own funds, for example, if the income per person in the family is less than the amount set by the state - 349.50 euros. However, families must prove their poverty until they raise their child to the age of six and the state takes over the burden of feeding him or her in kindergarten.

 

Paradoxically, the state allocates more than this poverty line, i.e. as much as 385 euros, every month to parents who are able to hire a private nanny for their princess or prince. Usually, a nanny costs about 1,300–1,500 euros per month. It would be justified if the state compensated the costs of hiring a nanny in the event that there are no places in kindergarten. Currently, such a condition does not exist and hiring a private nanny is supported, even when it is a luxury, not a necessity. And if there is a necessity for someone due to the lack of places in kindergarten, parents earning at least up to the average salary are unlikely to be able to hire that nanny even with state subsidies. So, the richer ones take the subsidy.

 

What reform is being requested? Provide a subsidy for a nanny only when there are no places in kindergarten and determine its amount depending on the parents' income. Even parents earning the minimum wage should have the opportunity to hire a nanny when there is no place in a kindergarten, so that they are not forced to give up their jobs to care for their child. Well, supporting those who earn high incomes is just a waste of public money.

 

Similarly, taxpayers' money is wasted on private kindergartens. The government provides the same subsidy for education as for municipal kindergartens, and the Vilnius City Municipality also compensates parents for the cost of a private kindergarten by 120 euros. The latter costs about 700-800 euros per month per child on the market.

 

A mother earning a similar amount will also be more likely to stay with her child herself than take him to a private kindergarten, so she will not benefit from the municipal subsidy. And the 120 euros of support are taken by those who earn more, because the aforementioned kindergarten prices are not an obstacle for them.

 

So, in summary, the policy is as follows: parents with low incomes can only use a municipal kindergarten, if there is one in their area of ​​residence. Only in cases of extreme poverty will the municipality cover the cost of feeding their child. If parents manage to earn at least the minimum wage, they will not receive free childcare at all. They will also not benefit from the subsidy for a nanny or a private kindergarten, because they simply will not be able to afford these services. If there is no place in a municipal kindergarten, one of the parents of such a family has to sacrifice their job and “sit” at home with the child. Then the family income drops even more and neither the state nor the municipality will come to their aid. Even social support will not be available, when the only salary in the family is divided among three or four family members, one person will have to pay at least 350 euros per month.

 

Such post-communist chamism, when the state supposedly supports, but support is available only to the strongest, is unknown in Western countries. The logic of support there is the opposite of ours. When childcare services are provided to families through private kindergartens or nannies, the size of the subsidy is linked to the family’s ability to pay. Families earning more are supported less or not at all, and as incomes fall, subsidies are increased to cover real market prices even for those earning the least. This way, the greatest state support goes to the poorest, and it works because it is calculated based on the amount of assistance actually needed to purchase the necessary service.

 

We have our own from poor people. It is praised that the support system works by subsidizing the prices of both private nannies and private kindergartens. However, in reality, those who are already doing well receive this support. And it is also financed by taxes from those who cannot afford these services, and therefore the support is not available.

 

Just like in the fairy tale "The beaten do not bear the unbeaten". Let's leave this fairy tale in the children's nursery, but let's uproot it from the laws.

 

And since it is the beginning of the school year, it is appropriate to end with an academic epilogue. Half a century ago – in 1974 – Richard Titmuss, a professor at the London School of Economics and one of the founders of the academic tradition of social policy, wrote that some social security programs in Latin America act as "hidden inequality multipliers" because they transfer resources from the poor to the rich. He warned that redistributive policies can work in the opposite direction than they should – "redistribute control of material and immaterial resources from the poor to the rich." Therefore, to avoid “hidden inequality multipliers,” we must assess not only how much the government spends on childcare, but also where that money actually goes.”

 

The same order in Latin America produces the same results as in Latin America. Lithuania remains and will continue to remain a poor country of asbestos slate roofs and smelly outdoor toilets.