Mark Carney's Yerevan Moment: What Canada's Presence at the EPC Summit Should Mean

If we’re serious about independence from American economic pressure, why are we still dependent on American technology companies that enable weapons systems we claim to oppose?

By Vahid Razavi

Mark Carney makes history today.

Canada’s Prime Minister becomes the first non-European leader invited to the European Political Community Summit in Yerevan, Armenia. That invitation signals something important: Europe is looking beyond its borders for partners who understand that sovereignty isn’t just geographic—it’s technological, economic, and moral.

But if Carney is going to make this moment count, he needs to do more than attend panels about “connectivity” and “energy security.” He needs to ask the question that no European leader has been willing to ask out loud:

If we’re serious about independence from American economic pressure, why are we still dependent on American technology companies that enable weapons systems we claim to oppose?

I spent years at Amazon Web Services in commercial Big Data and Analytics partnerships. I never touched government contracts. But I sat in meetings with Andy Jassy and the executives who DID sign those contracts. I saw the culture. I saw the pressure. I saw what happened to employees who raised ethical concerns about where our infrastructure was going.

You don’t need blood on your hands to know what the machine does.

And what I’m watching now is whether Canada—and Europe—understand that the machine doesn’t separate commercial from military. It’s the same infrastructure. The same executives. The same quarterly earnings pressure that treats a Netflix contract and a targeting system contract as equivalent revenue streams.

Canada’s Declaration: “The Days Are Over”

In April 2026, Mark Carney stood before the Liberal Party convention and made a declaration that drew a standing ovation:

“The days of Canada’s military sending 70 cents of every dollar to the United States are over.”

That 70 cents on the dollar isn’t rhetorical. According to Reuters, nearly 70 percent of Canada’s military capital spending goes to American suppliers. The Carney government released a formal defense industrial strategy aimed at reducing that dependence—building Canadian capacity in steel, aluminum, and weapons manufacturing.

The Trump administration wasn’t pleased. The U.S. had just signed an executive order establishing an “America First Arms Transfer Strategy” designed to accelerate sales of American-made military equipment to allies.

Translation: The U.S. wants allies to spend more on defense—as long as the money goes to American contractors.

Carney said no.

But here’s what he didn’t say—and what his presence in Yerevan should force him to address:

If Canada is rejecting American dependency in defense hardware, why is Canada still dependent on American companies for the cloud infrastructure that powers everything from government operations to healthcare to—yes—military intelligence?

The Infrastructure You Can’t See

When most people think about military contractors, they think about Lockheed Martin building F-35s. Raytheon making missiles. Boeing assembling aircraft.

What they don’t think about is Amazon Web Services providing the cloud storage and compute power that makes targeting systems function in real-time.

Or Google providing AI infrastructure through billion-dollar government contracts.

Or Palantir integrating intelligence data from drones, satellites, and signals into a single operational picture.

Or Microsoft processing surveillance data across military operations.

Or Oracle managing the databases that track populations at scale.

These aren’t separate from the weapons. They ARE the weapons.

The F-35 can’t function without data processing infrastructure. The missile can’t hit its target without real-time intelligence coordination. The targeting decision can’t happen at scale without AI systems analyzing surveillance feeds faster than any human could review them.

And all of that runs on American cloud infrastructure.

I know because I sold it. Not the military piece—I worked in commercial partnerships. But the infrastructure is identical. AWS doesn’t have a “military cloud” and a “commercial cloud.” It’s the same platform. The same APIs. The same data centers.

The only difference is the contract signature and the end use.

What I Saw at AWS: The Culture That Enables Both

Here’s what happens when you work inside one of these companies:

You’re evaluated on revenue growth. Your performance review doesn’t ask: “Did you consider the ethical implications of this partnership?” It asks: “Did you hit your quota?”

Engineers work on infrastructure without knowing—or being encouraged to ask—what that infrastructure enables. The salesperson closes the deal. The lawyer reviews the contract for liability exposure, not moral exposure. The executive signs off if the numbers work.

And if someone raises an ethical concern? I watched what happened to them. They were labeled “not a culture fit.” They were managed out. They were blacklisted from future opportunities within the company.

This isn’t unique to Amazon. It’s the culture across Big Tech. Google employees walked out over Project Maven—the Pentagon’s AI-powered drone targeting program. Google initially said it wouldn’t renew. Then it quietly removed the policy against military applications from its AI principles.

Microsoft employees protested the company’s $480 million HoloLens contract with the U.S. Army. The contract proceeded.

Palantir’s entire business model is built on government and military contracts. Its CEO Alex Karp has openly mocked employees who object.

The culture is designed to compartmentalize. Engineers build tools. Salespeople sell solutions. Executives maximize shareholder value. No single person is responsible for the whole chain—so no single person feels accountable for what happens at the end of it.

Except people ARE dying at the end of it.

Over 30,000 children in Gaza since October 2023, killed in operations that run on infrastructure provided by companies whose diversity reports and sustainability commitments get celebrated on LinkedIn.

What Canada Could Do (That Europe Won’t)

Mark Carney’s presence in Yerevan today is historic. But history doesn’t care about attendance. It cares about action.

Here’s what Canada could do right now:

1. Exercise Universal Jurisdiction

Canada has the same legal authority Spain has under universal jurisdiction principles. Any Canadian prosecutor can open an investigation into complicity in genocide and crimes against humanity—regardless of where the crimes occurred or the nationality of the perpetrators.

Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Oracle, and Palantir all operate in Canada. They have offices, data centers, contracts, and executives who travel there.

A Canadian investigation would carry weight that European investigations don’t—because Canada just declared independence from American defense dependency. Europe is still trying to balance NATO commitments with sovereignty concerns. Canada has already chosen.

2. Demand Contract Transparency

Every Canadian institution using AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, or Oracle infrastructure should be required to disclose: What data are we storing? Where is it physically located? Under what circumstances can the U.S. government compel access?

If the answer is “we don’t know” or “the company won’t tell us,” that’s disqualifying.

3. Build Sovereign Alternatives

Germany is doing this with OpenDesk—open-source software for government operations. France is migrating 2.5 million workstations off Microsoft.

Canada has the technical talent, the research institutions, and the political will to build sovereign cloud infrastructure. Not for every use case—but for the use cases that matter most: healthcare, government operations, critical infrastructure.

The question isn’t capability. It’s priority.

The Question for Tech Workers

I left AWS in 2018. Not because I worked on anything that killed people—I didn’t. But because I couldn’t reconcile the culture I was part of with the outcomes I knew that culture enabled.

If you’re reading this and you work at one of these companies, I’m not asking you to quit tomorrow. I understand mortgages. I understand stock vesting schedules. I understand career momentum.

But I am asking you to know what your employer does with the infrastructure you build.

Not hypothetically. Actually know.

• Has your company disclosed its government contracts?
• Do you know which military operations use your cloud platform?
• Have you read the +972 Magazine investigation into AI targeting systems in Gaza?
• Do you know what Project Nimbus is?

And if you do know—what are you doing about it?

Because the executives making these decisions are counting on your silence. They’re counting on compartmentalization. They’re counting on “it’s above my pay grade” and “I just work on the infrastructure, I don’t control how it’s used.”

But infrastructure isn’t neutral. And the people who build it aren’t powerless.

The Google employees who walked out over Project Maven forced a company response. It wasn’t enough—but it was something. The Microsoft employees who protested the HoloLens contract got visibility. The Amazon employees who circulated a petition against Project Nimbus made their position known.

None of them had blood on their hands. But all of them understood what the machine does.

What I’m Watching For in Yerevan

When Mark Carney sits in that room today with 48 European leaders, I’ll be watching for whether he understands that rejecting American defense dependency means rejecting American tech dependency.

You can’t build sovereignty on Boeing F-35s purchased from Lockheed Martin while running your government operations on Amazon Web Services.

You can’t declare independence from American weapons suppliers while licensing American companies to provide the cloud infrastructure that makes modern weapons function.

Sovereignty is indivisible.

Either you control your infrastructure—data, defense, and decision-making—or you don’t.

Europe is learning this the hard way, one blocked ICC email account at a time.

Canada has a chance to learn it faster.

The Petition and What It Means

I’ve launched a petition calling on Spain to investigate Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Oracle, and Palantir executives for complicity in genocide and crimes against humanity.

It’s co-sponsored by RootsAction.org Education Fund and WorldBeyondWars.org (100+ affiliate organizations).

But Spain doesn’t have to act alone. Canada can open its own investigation. France can. Germany can. Every nation where these companies operate can exercise universal jurisdiction simultaneously.

Sign at: ForeverPeaceNow.com/Petition

Currently: ~500 signatures. We need thousands.

Petition signers receive a free copy of my forthcoming book when edits complete: No Ethics In Big Tech: An Insider’s Case Against Silicon Valley’s War on Humanity—and the Fight to Make Them Pay.

Final Thought

I spent 25 years in Silicon Valley. I made money. I built partnerships. I worked with brilliant engineers solving hard technical problems.

And I left because I realized that technical brilliance without moral accountability is just a more efficient way to cause harm.

Mark Carney is in Yerevan today because Europe is looking for partners who understand that the old dependencies don’t serve anyone’s interests anymore.

If Canada is serious about that partnership, it needs to understand:

The same American companies that control 70% of Canada’s defense spending also control the cloud infrastructure that powers everything from hospitals to government operations to—yes—the targeting systems killing children in Gaza.

Rejecting one dependency while accepting the other isn’t sovereignty.

It’s just choosing which master to serve.

Take action:

• Learn more: Visit ForeverPeaceNow.com to watch the documentary Forever Peace Now and explore our ongoing analysis
• Sign the petition: ForeverPeaceNow.com/Petition
• See the evidence: ParentsPlea.com documents 142,000+ deaths with full biographies, not statistics

Hashtags: #EPCYerevan2026 #EPCYerevanPanel #DigitalSovereignty #CanadianSovereignty #TechAccountability

Vahid Razavi worked at Amazon Web Services in commercial Big Data and Analytics partnerships. He is the producer of the documentary Forever Peace Now and author of Ethics in Tech and Lack Thereof and The Age of Nepotism. His third book, No Ethics In Big Tech, is currently completing edits and will be available free to petition signers.