Given the folks behind this, the way I naturally look at it is from the perspective of an algorithm. As humans we tend to assume that if someone is in pursuit of something it means that they've already decided that that is their target, in other words they're behaving deterministically. An algorithmic approach at this early stage of the game will be more stochastic in nature (cf. "stochastic terrorism").
I am an algorithm. I assume that there are no moral considerations, all that matters is finding land that is technically suitable and geopolitically secure enough. It doesn't matter if the location isn't ideal for humans since (a) technology can make life comfortable especially when they don't care about touching grass, and (b) they're practising towards building a colony on Mars. It doesn't matter who is currently occupying or attached to the land other than the resistance that they might (temporarily) pose; in the short to medium term the military might of the USA can be co-opted to handle that, and the reputation of the USA doesn't matter because my only interest in the future of the USA (a nation-state, and therefore obsolete) is access to its resources to further my goals.
I will relentlessly assess everywhere on the planet for opportunity. What was off the table yesterday might suddenly be on the table today because of political shifts. Anything that's on the table today, I will poke to test resistance. If resistance is robust I will take it off today's table and reassess again tomorrow. If resistance is not robust then I will try poking the same target in a different spot, and so on. A similar technique has been used by conservative governments seeking to test receptivity to more right-wing ideas (e.g. Australia's Abbott government).
As an external human observer it's easy to look at the behaviour of the algorithm and assign motives and meanings to its every action, and to go down rabbit holes for every place it pokes. This can produce a steady stream of headlines rewarded on social media platforms, but it can also lead to repeatedly crying wolf and become exhausting. The algorithm doesn't have motives or meanings and doesn't go down rabbit holes, it just keeps on following its methods.
It is of course the humans tending the algorithm who do the actual geo-political poking.
It's possible that the prompt targeting of Panana and Colombia is aimed not just (or even) at controlling the Panama Canal but is poking at the Darién Gap, the uninhabited land between those two countries. That area is not the most hospitable natural environment for humans but it looks ripe on a map (undeveloped and not remote) and its abundance of water and solar energy makes it technically suitable, with a nearby busy trade route an obvious advantage for obtaining physical resources. Even better if you hold the keys to the locks.
Regarding Gaza, white people in faraway places have a solid history of making uninformed assumptions and decisions about other peoples and cultures, including thinking that they're smart enough to waltz in and instantly solve everything, and that founding nations is just a matter of drawing lines on a map. Even if you're just dimly aware that things are more complicated than that, giving it a poke anyway is always worth trying if the downsides aren't your problem. Gaza's proximity to Europe and Israel's tech industry and air defences seem to me to be natural advantages.
We should expect the humans with a vested interest in the fruits of the algorithm to try a range of things towards increasing the number of "hits" it gets. I see the freezing of foreign aid in this context. It will cause stress in a lot of vulnerable places, but it will take time for that stress to bear fruit, so best get onto it quickly and turn off all the taps at once without warning so that they're all scrambling for alternative sources of assistance (e.g. China) at the same time. There's probably also an assumption of "if we don't support these places, no one else will" in there too, which doesn't need to be 100% true in every case as it's a stochastic approach, not a deterministic one - it doesn't matter which places collapse, only that some do.
Another opportunity that may present itself in future is sympathetic (read: wannabe Trumpist) leaders of friendly countries offering land. Peter Dutton trying that on is not beyond my imagination.
In Nevada “near Carson”, you may be referring to Painted Rock. If not, for a freedom city in-waiting, look at Blockchain LLC. The owner of this company, Jeffery Berns, bought 67k acres in the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center and has been working on building a “Smart City.” His efforts have included attempting to establish a new county, carved from Storey county, which would be self-governing. He initially got support from our Governor, but legislators balked. That was pre-Covid. He supposedly withdrew, after his rebuff by our legislature, but he didn’t close shop here and leave. His business here pivoted that sounds like a holding pattern for a Freedom City.
Our legislature just started into session and I’ve done a cursory look at bill draft requests for legislation relating to this, but didn’t find anything yet. They may choose not to seek sanctioning by the state of Nevada if it is a good chance it will be an edict of the oligarchy.
Given the folks behind this, the way I naturally look at it is from the perspective of an algorithm. As humans we tend to assume that if someone is in pursuit of something it means that they've already decided that that is their target, in other words they're behaving deterministically. An algorithmic approach at this early stage of the game will be more stochastic in nature (cf. "stochastic terrorism").
I am an algorithm. I assume that there are no moral considerations, all that matters is finding land that is technically suitable and geopolitically secure enough. It doesn't matter if the location isn't ideal for humans since (a) technology can make life comfortable especially when they don't care about touching grass, and (b) they're practising towards building a colony on Mars. It doesn't matter who is currently occupying or attached to the land other than the resistance that they might (temporarily) pose; in the short to medium term the military might of the USA can be co-opted to handle that, and the reputation of the USA doesn't matter because my only interest in the future of the USA (a nation-state, and therefore obsolete) is access to its resources to further my goals.
I will relentlessly assess everywhere on the planet for opportunity. What was off the table yesterday might suddenly be on the table today because of political shifts. Anything that's on the table today, I will poke to test resistance. If resistance is robust I will take it off today's table and reassess again tomorrow. If resistance is not robust then I will try poking the same target in a different spot, and so on. A similar technique has been used by conservative governments seeking to test receptivity to more right-wing ideas (e.g. Australia's Abbott government).
As an external human observer it's easy to look at the behaviour of the algorithm and assign motives and meanings to its every action, and to go down rabbit holes for every place it pokes. This can produce a steady stream of headlines rewarded on social media platforms, but it can also lead to repeatedly crying wolf and become exhausting. The algorithm doesn't have motives or meanings and doesn't go down rabbit holes, it just keeps on following its methods.
It is of course the humans tending the algorithm who do the actual geo-political poking.
It's possible that the prompt targeting of Panana and Colombia is aimed not just (or even) at controlling the Panama Canal but is poking at the Darién Gap, the uninhabited land between those two countries. That area is not the most hospitable natural environment for humans but it looks ripe on a map (undeveloped and not remote) and its abundance of water and solar energy makes it technically suitable, with a nearby busy trade route an obvious advantage for obtaining physical resources. Even better if you hold the keys to the locks.
Regarding Gaza, white people in faraway places have a solid history of making uninformed assumptions and decisions about other peoples and cultures, including thinking that they're smart enough to waltz in and instantly solve everything, and that founding nations is just a matter of drawing lines on a map. Even if you're just dimly aware that things are more complicated than that, giving it a poke anyway is always worth trying if the downsides aren't your problem. Gaza's proximity to Europe and Israel's tech industry and air defences seem to me to be natural advantages.
We should expect the humans with a vested interest in the fruits of the algorithm to try a range of things towards increasing the number of "hits" it gets. I see the freezing of foreign aid in this context. It will cause stress in a lot of vulnerable places, but it will take time for that stress to bear fruit, so best get onto it quickly and turn off all the taps at once without warning so that they're all scrambling for alternative sources of assistance (e.g. China) at the same time. There's probably also an assumption of "if we don't support these places, no one else will" in there too, which doesn't need to be 100% true in every case as it's a stochastic approach, not a deterministic one - it doesn't matter which places collapse, only that some do.
Another opportunity that may present itself in future is sympathetic (read: wannabe Trumpist) leaders of friendly countries offering land. Peter Dutton trying that on is not beyond my imagination.
In Nevada “near Carson”, you may be referring to Painted Rock. If not, for a freedom city in-waiting, look at Blockchain LLC. The owner of this company, Jeffery Berns, bought 67k acres in the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center and has been working on building a “Smart City.” His efforts have included attempting to establish a new county, carved from Storey county, which would be self-governing. He initially got support from our Governor, but legislators balked. That was pre-Covid. He supposedly withdrew, after his rebuff by our legislature, but he didn’t close shop here and leave. His business here pivoted that sounds like a holding pattern for a Freedom City.
Our legislature just started into session and I’ve done a cursory look at bill draft requests for legislation relating to this, but didn’t find anything yet. They may choose not to seek sanctioning by the state of Nevada if it is a good chance it will be an edict of the oligarchy.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56409924.amp
https://www.evolving-science.com/environment/utopia-nevada-00839?ao-amp=1