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US AI giants seem fine with their tech being used to spy on Europeans AI spying on allies wasn’t a deal-breaker for OpenAI, Anthropic in Pentagon talks

US AI giants seem fine with their tech being used to spy on Europeans

Global stock markets tumble as Trump bid to avert oil crisis in strait of Hormuz fails to reassure South Korea’s benchmark Kospi index leads Asian market sell-off, despite Donald Trump’s suggestion that US Navy could protect vessels moving through vital strait of Hormuz Global markets tumbled further on Wednesday despite Donald Trump’s offer to have the US navy escort tankers through the strait of Hormuz and the US military’s claim that there is “not a single Iranian ship underway” in the crucial waterway. The Middle East conflict has crippled the strait which was in effect closed by Iran after strikes by the US and Israel this weekend, raising fears of a sustained energy supply crisis that reverberated around the world. Continue reading...

Global stock markets tumble as Trump bid to avert oil crisis in strait of Hormuz fails to reassure

The accidental shootdown of three U.S. F-15 fighter jets on Sunday was caused by a Kuwaiti F/A-18 fighter, according to the Wall Street Journal.

What you're looking at is not a sunrise — it's the Russian LNG tanker ARCTIC METAGAZ (IMO 9243148) struck by a massive explosion in the Mediterranean this morning. Photographed by crew aboard a merchant vessel, via Vanguard Tech.

America vs. the World President Trump wants to return to the 19th century’s international order. He will leave America less prosperous—and the whole world less secure.

”The consequence of a newly unreliable and even hostile United States, therefore, will likely be significant military buildups by former allies. This will not mean sharing the burden of collective security, because these rearmed nations will no longer be American allies.”

Unfortunately, I think we might start to see the acceleration of the established cycle in which Trump faces the consequences of his actions vs Iran, then takes even more dangerous/escalatory steps to try to deal with those, but instead precipitates even worse consequences.

My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Spain forever.

Cheap, effective and battle-tested by Russia: Iran leans on Shahed drones to penetrate U.S. defenses The U.S. has reportedly been able to stop most of the autonomous munitions, but even in being taken down, the weapons drain crucial defense resources.

The U.S. is struggling to counter the Iranian Shahed drone despite having years to learn from Ukraine's experience

www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-ne...

U.S. closes its Saudi, Kuwait embassies as it urges Americans to flee Middle East

Poland seeks as much autonomy as possible in terms of nuclear arms, Tusk says Poland wants to be autonomous in the future when ​it comes to a nuclear deterrent, Prime ‌Minister Donald Tusk said on Tuesday, as Europe seeks to build its capabilities independently of the United St...

Tusk: "We ​are investing heavily in future nuclear power plants, and ​Poland will not want to be passive when it comes to nuclear security in a military context."

"We will cooperate with our allies...as our capabilities increase, ‌we ⁠will try to prepare Poland for autonomous action in this matter."

🇺🇸🇮🇷 John Bolton on Iran:

This isn’t something that is going to end in days or weeks. I think it is going to be months if we are going to be successful.

Regime change does not consist of eliminating Supreme Leader and replacing him. Entire structure of Ayatollahs and IRGC needs to be removed.

Tehran vows to strike European countries if they join Iran war In an official announcement in Tehran on Tuesday, the Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson said that any action by Europeans will be regarded as an “act of war” and met with a response targeting Euro...

Iran has warned that any offensive or defensive military action by European countries would be considered an “act of war” and met with an armed response.

The scene is set for uncontrolled escalation.

Scenes from a personalist regime

Rubio's war remarks blow open MAGA's Israel divide The secretary of state's comments inflamed already angry MAGA elites.

🇮🇷 Rubio's remarks were widely interpreted as making the U.S. look subordinate to Israel's interests.

And they inflamed already angry MAGA elites who had spent the day railing against President Trump's decision to go to war.

The UAE is projected to exhaust its interceptor missile stock within one week at the current rate of fire, and Qatar within four days; both are urgently seeking additional military support from the United States. -Bloomberg

Iranian drones cost a fraction of air defences. How long can Gulf states last? Iranians push financial attrition strategy, as analysts predict each interception is 20 times more expensive than cost of drone

“For every $1 Iran spent on drones, the UAE spent roughly $20-28 shooting them down,” said Grieco. “This is the core of Iran's strategy.” www.middleeasteye.net/news/iranian...

US 'stonewalling' requests by Gulf states to replenish interceptors, sources say One Gulf state sought reassurances on the US commitment to its air defence when discussing access to bases, source says

"At least one Gulf state that has come under attack from Iran asked US officials about replenishing supplies that have been depleted since the joint US-Israeli attack on Iran, but was brushed off, the former US official familiar with the discussions said."
www.middleeasteye.net/news/us-ston...

Mycket bra.

For the 2nd night in a row pro-Iran militia have clashed with security forces in Baghdad. This can no longer be dismissed as a flash in the pan but it remains to be seen whether this is a prelude to more serious destabilization.

Surely our memories are long enough to remember where this could lead

the good news is there's a guy like this in every unit. always has been. he is universally loathed by his peers and subordinates, especially if he's an officer.

the bad news is there's a guy like this in every unit.

Creating another Kurdish statelet will be a great way to pull Turkey into the war as well.

The core idea of Switzerland, a sort of extractive neutrality, is unfortunately incompatible with any sort of coherent defense cooperation with the rest of the continent. At the end of the day, the Swiss are not worried about Russia or the US, but about being absorbed by their larger neighbours.

"Hungary’s constitution prohibits elections from being held during a “state of emergency” (szükségállapot). According to Orbán, Hungary is under attack from a neighboring country [Ukraine] that is “preparing to take further steps.”"

I think there's a version of this thinking that makes sense from an Israeli perspective. Israel is, I imagine, relatively untroubled by Gulf state refining or the Strait of Hormuz.

For the United States, which does care about these things and is less threatened, the tradeoff is ass-backwards.

Senator Merkley to me on Trump’s war in Iran:
“This president has chosen to steal the power of the purse, breaking the Constitution; steal the power of taxation, breaking the Constitution; and now, stealing the power of War, breaking the Constitution.
I’m not sure, are we still a republic?”

“Many of their commanders are especially delighted with how graphic this battle will be zeroing in on how bloody all of this must become in order to fulfill and be in 100% accordance with fundamentalist Christian end of the world eschatology.”

we're going to be stuck with consequences for decades, aren't we

this is going to be in the documentary

So much peace and stability restored to the region by the administration.