Putin is not ready to compromise. He believes in the invented successes of his army, ISW says.

The Kremlin still wants Ukraine out of four regions, no NATO, “demilitarization,” and “denazification.”

Putin’s confidence rests on disinformation from his own commanders, who inflate Russia’s gains.

Putin believes that he will occupy all of Donetsk Oblast by the end of 2026. ISW stresses that Russia cannot meet that plan. At the current pace, it would take until 2032 to occupy the whole of Donbas, if at all.

Playing video games may help keep the brain mentally active by constantly engaging attention, memory, problem-solving, and quick decision-making. Research published in Nature Communications suggests that these cognitive demands may be associated with slower brain aging, with some gamers showing mental performance comparable to people up to 10 years younger.

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Dr K gives a full break down of the Lindsay Clancy case from a psychiatrists perspective.

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Research from Switzerland, Poland, Canada, and the US finds that social marginalization, immigration status, education, sex, and psychiatrists’ own characteristics may determine who is subjected to involuntary psychiatric treatment.

By

 Richard Sears

 

August 28, 2026

This week, Mad in America examines four studies related to patient and psychiatrist characteristics and psychiatric detention. The first finds that social marginalization is linked to higher rates of psychiatric detention and worse clinical improvement.

The second finds that being male, having lower educational attainment, and single marital status are associated with involuntary admission.

The third reports that immigrants and socially disadvantaged people face higher rates of psychiatric detention.

The fourth finds that psychiatrists’ characteristics are linked to significant variation in recommending psychiatric detention.

Together, these studies suggest that decisions around involuntary admission are not always based on clinical necessity, but significantly influenced by patient and psychiatrist characteristics.

Social Marginalization Is Associated With Higher Rates of Psychiatric Detention and Lower Clinical Improvement

A new Swiss study published in the International Journal of Law and Psychiatry finds that a specific demographic profile, including non-Europeans with low socioeconomic status, high rates of social welfare dependence, and temporary residency, is linked to significantly higher rates of psychiatric detention. This research, led by Jana Carlet from the University of Zurich in Switzerland, also reports that clinical improvement after treatment is significantly lower for this group.

The goal of this study was to assess the rates of involuntary admission among identified subgroups of psychiatric patients and to test the hypothesis that groups experiencing multiple forms of social marginalization are more likely to face psychiatric detention. The authors used clinical data from 16,024 adults admitted as inpatients to the University Clinic Zurich between 2017 and 2020 to examine the link between specific demographic profiles and involuntary admission.

Four subgroups of psychiatric inpatients were identified. Class 1 represented 55.1% of admissions and was predominately Swiss citizens with secondary education and average socioeconomic status. Class 2 represented 23.2% of admissions and included mostly European Union foreign nationals with stable residence and some education. Class 3 accounted for 13.9% of admissions and included young Swiss nationals with lower educational attainment. Class 4 represented 7.8% of admissions and included non-European citizens with low socioeconomic status, high rates of social welfare dependence, temporary residency, low educational attainment, and “insufficient” language skills.

After adjusting for clinical variables including diagnosis and symptom severity, class 4 was at a 49% increased risk of involuntary admission compared to class 1. Classes 2 and 3 had nearly identical odds of involuntary admission compared to class 1. Clinical improvement after treatment was also significantly lower in both classes 3 and 4 compared to class 1. This means the group least likely to be helped by psychiatric treatment was at significantly increased odds of being forced into that treatment against their will.

Male Sex, Lower Education, Single Marital Status, and Psychotic Disorders Are Associated With Greater Risk of Psychiatric Detention

A new Polish study published in the International Journal of Law and Psychiatry finds that certain demographic factors are linked to higher rates of psychiatric detention, including male sex, lack of higher education, and single marital status. This study, led by Andrzej Kiejna from the University of Vocational Education in Poland, also finds that female sex, secondary or higher education, and being single were linked to longer psychiatric hospital stays.

The goal of this research was to identify demographic and clinical factors linked to psychiatric detention and longer stays in psychiatric hospitals. The authors used data from questionnaires, hospital statistics, and demographic information collected from all involuntarily detained patients at the Lower Silesian Centre of Mental Health between 2016 and 2022.

Male sex, lack of higher education, single marital status, and a diagnosis of schizophrenia, other psychotic disorders, and alcohol use disorder were linked to higher odds of psychiatric detention.

Female sex, higher education, single marital status, emergency or legally based admission, history of previous psychiatric hospitalization, and schizophrenia diagnosis were all linked to longer lengths of stay.

Immigrants and Socially Disadvantaged Patients Face Higher Odds of Psychiatric Detention

A new Canadian study published in Psychiatric Services finds that demographic factors such as being an immigrant, homelessness, having no income, and lower educational attainment are linked to psychiatric detention. This research, led by Soyeon Kim from McMaster University in Canada, also finds that while immigrants were less likely to face involuntary psychiatric assessment, they were more likely to be detained against their will in a psychiatric facility.

The goal of this research was to investigate whether certain demographic factors were linked to a higher likelihood of psychiatric detention. The authors examined administrative and clinical data from 53,088 people that were detained against their will in a psychiatric hospital in Ontario, Canada.

After adjusting for clinical variables, both recent (37% higher odds) and long-term (51%) immigrants were more likely to face psychiatric detention compared to non-immigrants. Homeless people (87%) and those with no income (43%) also faced increased odds of psychiatric detention. Having some level of university education was linked to 16% lower odds of involuntary admission.

Homeless people (73% higher odds) were more likely to face involuntary psychiatric assessment. Indigenous people had tripled odds of facing involuntary psychiatric assessment, but were not more likely to be involuntarily admitted. Immigrants had lower odds of involuntary assessments (19%), but increased odds of psychiatric detention.

These three previous studies each had three main limitations. The authors used routinely collected administrative and clinical data which lacked some significant details such as reasons for migration, explicit ethnicity, qualitative markers of structural discrimination, and information on qualitative markers of systemic discrimination. The design of the studies means the results cannot speak to causes, only associations. These studies were conducted in specific geographical locations within a small number of inpatient facilities, significantly limiting generalizability to other populations.

Psychiatrist Characteristics Are Linked to Significant Variation in Detention Recommendations

A new US study published in PLOS Mental Health finds that some psychiatrist characteristics, such as location, type of clinical experience, and levels of paternalism, are linked to a higher likelihood of recommending psychiatric detention. This study, led by Karin R. Lavie from the University of Chicago, also reports that psychiatrists’ demographics and overall years of experience were not linked to their likelihood of recommending involuntary admissions.

The goal of this research was to investigate psychiatrist factors that were linked to increased likelihood of recommending psychiatric detention. The authors also wanted to evaluate how psychiatrists’ characteristics were linked to their level of confidence in recommending involuntary admission.

They invited psychiatrists and psychiatry trainees from eight academic departments in the US to participate in an online survey around these questions. Each participant was presented with eight hypothetical psychiatric emergency situations and asked to indicate if they would recommend psychiatric detention or discharge. They also rated their confidence in their decision on a scale from 0 to 100. In total, the authors used data from 246 participants.

There was substantial variation in the recommendation of psychiatric detention between psychiatrists. Overall, 48% of responses to the hypothetical emergency psychiatric situations recommended involuntary admission. The average confidence in those decisions was 68 out of 100.

Psychiatrists and trainees located in the Northeast and Southeast were significantly more likely to recommend psychiatric detention compared to their peers in the Midwest, Southwest, and West. Those that had worked in inpatient settings were also more likely to recommend involuntary admission while participants that had previous experience in a psychiatric emergency service were less likely to recommend the same. Paternalistic attitudes, belief that hospitalization benefited patients, and higher levels of comfort with clinical risk were all linked to higher rates of recommending psychiatric detention. Experience working in emergency situations and higher levels of comfort with clinical risk were both linked to higher confidence in psychiatrists’ and trainees’ decisions.

This study had three main limitations. The design of the study means the data can only speak to associations between psychiatrists’ characteristics and psychiatric detention recommendations, not causes. Only psychiatrists and psychiatric trainees from academic institutions in five US states were included in the current work, limiting generalizability to other populations. The situations were hypothetical and may not truly indicate how participants would respond in an actual emergency situation.

****

Carlet, J., Hotzy, F., Maatz, A., Homan, P., & Müller, M. (2026). Analysing risk factors for involuntary admission from an intersectional perspective: A latent class analysis. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 105, 102191. (Link)

Kiejna, A., Cichoń, E., Stachów, M., Gondek, T. M., Bukowska, A., & Todzia-Kornaś, A. (2026). Admission without consent to a psychiatric ward and length of hospital stay: The role of selected sociodemographic and clinical factors. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 107, 102222. (Link)

Kim, S., MacQuarrie, E., Oh, S., Do, R., Ham, E., Hilton, N. Z., & Fung, K. P. (2026). Social Determinants and trends in involuntary psychiatric detentions: A decade of population-based data. Psychiatric Services, 77(8), 709–717. (Link)

Lavie, K. R., Lee, R., & Jacobson, K. C. (2026). Identifying psychiatrist characteristics associated with likelihood of recommending involuntary hospitalization for patients using a novel tool to assess decision-making. PLOS Mental Health, 3(4). (Link)

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Richard Sears

Richard Sears teaches psychology at West Georgia Technical College and works as a counseling psychologist in private practice, specializing in person-centered therapy. Earlier in his career, Richard worked in a psychiatric crisis stabilization unit, an experience that exposed him to the harsh realities of a broken mental healthcare system. This fueled his commitment to providing compassionate, person-centered care and advocating for meaningful change in how mental health services are delivered.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

Sahel Gold Mines Fuel Terror Groups

By Africa Defense Forum

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Key Takeaways:

• Sahel jihadist groups JNIM and ISSP rarely storm the pits themselves. ACLED’s Héni Nsaibia: they take nearby towns and roads in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, then tax or extort miners and traders—often in gold that can be stored and laundered. Raids have found large gold stocks in JNIM bases.
• Burkina Faso is the center of the violence: 75% of mining-related attacks in an ACLED look at 44 AES-country sites; most happen within 10 km of a mine. Inata, first hit in 2018, was shut by the junta in 2024 and, as of June, is described as under JNIM. Liptako-Gourma (Essakane, Samira) is a JNIM–ISSP contest zone; Kayes (Mali–Senegal) and the Burkina–Ghana border feed the same economy.
• The risk is moving south. Nsaibia warns JNIM’s push toward Senegal, Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire, and Ghana—and both groups’ footprint in northwest and north-central Nigeria—could export the same pattern. Mines, he argues, now mark who controls people, routes, and money, not just ore.

Sahel terrorists are targeting gold mines and surrounding communities in search of revenue, recruits and weaponry such as explosives. In some cases, the terrorists have built bases nearby.

Rather than attack mines directly, Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) and Islamic State Sahel Province (ISSP) have staked their claims to nearby communities in different parts of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, along with the roads that connect mining areas to each other and to the outside world.

The groups target industrial and artisanal mining areas.

“As militant groups expand into new areas, they rarely focus on mines alone,” Héni Nsaibia, West African senior analyst for the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) project wrote recently. “Instead, they interact with the miners, traders, transport routes, and surrounding communities that sustain mining activity and depend on it for their livelihoods.”

The goal, ultimately, is to exert control over the communities, their resources and the support infrastructure they provide, according to Nsaibia.

Burkina Faso has become the focal point for most mining-related violence, with 75% of all violent events happening within its borders. ACLED examined 44 mining sites across the three countries in the Alliance of Sahelian States (AES). It found that most terrorism happens within 10 kilometers of mines, not within the mines themselves.

Burkina Faso’s northern Inata mine, near the border with Mali, became the first mine terrorists targeted in 2018. The ruling junta closed the mine in 2024. As of June, the mine and the surrounding region are under JNIM’s control, according to ACLED.

“The way JNIM and ISSP are extracting value from the mining sector is indirect. People have to do the mining first,” Lucia Bird Ruiz-Benitez de Lugo, director of the West Africa Observatory at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, said during a recent International Land Coalition (ILC) webinar.

JNIM and ISSP then extract payments, either as taxes or extortion, from miners and other community members, often in gold, which can be stored and laundered later to make quick cash.

“We’ve seen through raids on bases, particularly of JNIM, that groups can sometimes have really quite significant volumes of gold in these bases,” Ruiz-Benitez de Lugo said.

Many mining communities lie along border regions, such as Mali’s western Kayes region with Senegal, where 80% of its gold is mined. Burkina Faso’s southern boundary with Ghana also has become a source of revenue for JNIM as Ghanaian miners send their gold into Burkina Faso for processing, according to Ruiz-Benitez de Lugo.

The Liptako-Gourma region, where Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger meet, has long been a hot spot for competition between JNIM and ISSP. It’s also home to Burkina Faso’s largest gold mine, Essakane. Some of Niger’s most important gold mines, including the Samira mine, lie just across the border.

As JNIM and ISSP seek to expand their regional footprint , mining-related violence is likely to expand beyond AES countries, according to Nsaibia.

“JNIM’s expansion toward the borders with Senegal, Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire, and Ghana raises the risk that patterns already observed in the central Sahel will spread farther south to coastal West Africa,” Nsaibia wrote in a report for ACLED and the ILC.

Mining communities in northwest and north-central Nigeria also are likely targets for JNIM and ISSP, both of which already have a footprint in those regions, he added.

“Mining areas are now more than just sites of resource extraction,” Nsaibia wrote. “They increasingly serve as indicators of broader conflict dynamics, showing how governments assert control over mineral resources, and how localized violence can spread and disrupt vital economic activities.”

About Africa Defense Forum

The Africa Defense Forum (ADF) magazine is a security affairs journal that focuses on all issues affecting peace, stability, and good governance in Africa. ADF is published by the U.S. Africa Command.

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Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

The AI Infrastructure Race Will Be Won In Concrete – Analysis

 September 7, 2026

By Wael Handous

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Key Takeaways:

• The AI race is now a construction problem, not only a model race. Chips and software can move quickly; grid connections, transformers, land, cooling, fiber, and permits cannot. The IEA projects global data-center electricity use rising from 485 TWh in 2025 to about 950 TWh in 2030, with AI-focused facilities’ use tripling—and already warns that energy-equipment and interconnection bottlenecks make the most aggressive near-term scenarios less likely.
• The Gulf’s opening is sequenced infrastructure, not a late AI announcement. The article cites the UAE’s 2017 national AI strategy, land set aside for data centers, Barakah’s 5,600 MW nuclear plant (up to a quarter of UAE power), and Dubai’s Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park at 3,860 MW (planned above 8,000 MW by 2030), plus projects such as OpenAI’s 1 GW Stargate UAE cluster in Abu Dhabi. The claim is that coordinated power, policy, and capital can turn compute into a regional industry—if customers and delivery are real.
• Concrete is not a strategy. Data centers can be stranded by missing power, thin demand, or overbuilt forecasts; heat and water make cooling and community impact part of the cost. Winning, the piece argues, is converting land, a power commitment, and a contract into dependable, paid-for compute—not collecting renderings or model launches.

The next phase of AI competition will depend on power, land, cooling, construction discipline and public policy

Most arguments about the AI race begin with chips and end with models. That made sense while the industry was proving what the technology could do. It is less useful now. The constraint appearing in boardrooms, planning departments and utility offices is more physical: can a project secure power, cooling, land, fiber, equipment and permits on a timetable that matches demand?

This is why the next phase of AI competition will look partly like a technology race and partly like a construction program. Models can be copied, licensed or improved quickly. A grid connection cannot. A transformer cannot be downloaded. A data center announced today still has to survive procurement delays, local regulation, financing tests and the unglamorous question of who will buy its capacity.

The International Energy Agency now expects global data center electricity use to rise from 485 terawatt-hours in 2025 to about 950 terawatt-hours in 2030. Electricity use by AI-focused facilities is projected to triple over the same period. The IEA also warns that bottlenecks across energy equipment, chips and grid connections are already making the most aggressive near-term scenarios less likely. That warning matters. The AI economy may be digital at the point of use, but its expansion is governed by physical lead times.

The bottleneck has moved

The market has spent two years asking which model will win. A better question is which places can turn a model into reliable, affordable compute without destabilizing the wider energy system. That requires coordination across ministries, utilities, landowners, contractors, financiers and technology companies. Countries that treat those groups as separate conversations will lose time, even when they have capital.

The scale of current projects makes the point. OpenAI has announced a 1-gigawatt Stargate UAE cluster in Abu Dhabi, with 200 megawatts expected to go live in 2026. In Dubai Silicon Oasis, a separate AI-ready data center development is planned across as much as 60,000 square meters, beginning with 29 megawatts of available capacity and followed by another 100 megawatts of committed power. These are not software releases. They are long-lived industrial assets whose success depends on electricity, customer commitments and operating discipline.

That changes the investment logic. A data center is not an ordinary warehouse with more cables. Power availability can matter more than the building. Cooling design can matter more than the facade. A signed customer can matter more than a speculative forecast. The real asset is the agreement that joins land, energy, connectivity and demand. Concrete is only the visible part of it.

The Gulf has an opening

The Gulf enters this contest with obvious advantages: investable capital, fast construction, strategic geography and governments able to coordinate large infrastructure decisions. The stronger advantage, however, is that the United Arab Emirates did not begin preparing when generative AI became fashionable. Its national AI strategy was launched in 2017. Dubai’s current AI blueprint explicitly includes allocating land for data centers. Those decisions sit beside power investments made over much longer horizons.

The Barakah nuclear plant has 5,600 megawatts of capacity and supplies up to a quarter of the UAE’s electricity. Dubai’s Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park has reached 3,860 megawatts and is planned to exceed 8,000 megawatts by 2030. Neither project was built for data centers alone, and it would be wrong to present either one as a simple answer to AI demand. Together, they show the value of planning energy systems before a new class of customer arrives at the door.

This is where continuity under President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum becomes economically relevant. The policy sequence has joined energy security, digital government, investment and infrastructure over years rather than treating AI as a single announcement. In a market where grid connections can become the critical delay, the ability to align institutions is a competitive asset.

The opportunity extends beyond hosting foreign computing capacity. If the UAE can combine reliable power with secure data governance, strong connectivity and demanding local customers, it can support regional AI services in government, health, finance, logistics and real estate. That creates room for operators, energy specialists, contractors and software companies, not only hyperscale platforms.

Concrete is not a strategy

The case for the Gulf should not become an excuse for careless building. Data centers are expensive, technically specific and exposed to rapid changes in chips and cooling systems. Demand forecasts can be wrong. Customers can concentrate in a handful of companies. Projects can become stranded if power is promised but not delivered, or if financing is based on a headline rather than a contract.

Climate adds another test. High temperatures raise the importance of cooling efficiency and water management. Large facilities can also create pressure on grids and local communities if they are approved without transparent planning. The region will gain credibility by measuring these costs, not by pretending they do not exist.

This is where governments should be selective. Capacity should be evaluated against committed demand, credible delivery schedules and the cost of the supporting grid. Developers should report energy and water performance in comparable terms. Utilities need incentives for storage and flexible loads that can support the system during periods of stress. Regulators should insist on cybersecurity, operational resilience and clear rules for sensitive data. Training programs should prepare local engineers and operators for the work that remains after the ribbon is cut.

The IEA’s numbers also argue for humility. Global data center demand is rising quickly, but it remains sensitive to financing conditions, technology efficiency and the commercial value companies actually obtain from AI. Building every announced project would be a poor strategy. Building the right projects, in the right sequence, with customers and power secured, could become a durable one.

What should count as winning

The AI infrastructure race will not be won by the country with the largest collection of renderings. It will be won by the places that can convert a land parcel, a power commitment and a policy decision into dependable compute faster than their competitors, while keeping the economics honest.

For the UAE, the test is no longer whether it can attract a major announcement. It has already done that. The test is whether the projects now under way create a reliable operating base, deepen local capability and serve real economic demand. If they do, the Gulf’s physical infrastructure will become more than a support system for AI. It will become part of the region’s strategic position.

The industry will continue to celebrate model launches because software is visible and easy to explain. Yet the model that matters on a difficult day is the one that still has power, cooling, secure data and a customer willing to pay. That is why the next phase of the AI race will be decided as much by engineers, planners and builders as by researchers. The future may arrive through a screen, but someone still has to build the system behind it.

Disclosure

Research and source checking were supported by FRANK Intelligence. Generative AI was used for language and editorial assistance. Wael Handous reviewed the argument, sources and final manuscript and takes responsibility for the submission.

Sources

All factual figures were checked against the following primary sources on September 6, 2026.

1. International Energy Agency, Key Questions on Energy and AI, April 2026. Official source
2. OpenAI, Introducing Stargate UAE. Official source
3. Government of Dubai Media Office, DIEZ and VOLT UAE data center announcement, April 23, 2026. Official source
4. Official Portal of the UAE Government, UAE Strategy for Artificial Intelligence. Official source
5. Official Portal of the UAE Government, Dubai Universal Blueprint for Artificial Intelligence. Official source
6. Emirates Nuclear Energy Company, Barakah plant factsheet. Official source
7. Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park. Official source

About Wael Handous

Wael Handous is the founder and Group CEO of FRANK AI in Dubai. His 18-year career spans enterprise technology, cybersecurity distribution and real-estate operations. He writes about the systems connecting AI, security, property and institutional resilience.

View all posts by Wael Handous →