Author: Colin Henderson

Progress in era of productivity
AI_factories, Infrastructure, Innovation

Nebius publishes 2025 Sustainability Report, outlining blueprint for scaling responsibly

Colin Henderson

Share Sets out how Nebius is building resource efficiency into the expansion of its global AI cloud footprint toward gigawatts of capacity Average power usage effectiveness (PUE) of 1.25 across Nebius’s data center portfolio in 2025, ahead of the global industry average of 1.54 Expanding community engagement programs support STEM education, skilled-trades apprenticeships, and workforce development AMSTERDAM–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Nebius (Nasdaq: NBIS), the AI cloud company, today published its 2025 Sustainability Report, setting out a year of environmental performance data across its expanding global footprint and detailing its investment in the communities where it operates. As Nebius scales its AI cloud toward … Continue reading Nebius publishes 2025 Sustainability Report, outlining blueprint for scaling responsibly

briefing

Morning Briefing — Thursday, July 30, 2026 · 10:15 EST · ~1,250 words

Colin Henderson

Introduction The dominant frame today is re-escalation with geographic spread: the Friday-to-Tuesday combat pause is dead, and the war’s perimeter now touches Egypt, Kuwait, and Jordan in a single 48-hour window, with Saudi Arabia crossing from target to combatant. The second cluster is monetary-financial: a hawkish Fed hold with three dissents for a hike collided with resurgent oil and an AI-capex credibility test from Microsoft and Meta, producing the worst equity day in months. What makes today distinct is the simultaneity — war-widening, stagflation signals, and AI-spend scepticism reinforcing each other rather than trading off. 1. What changed 1. Iran … Continue reading Morning Briefing — Thursday, July 30, 2026 · 10:15 EST · ~1,250 words

Geopolitics, Middle East, Saudi

Why the Saudis Attacked Iraq Despite Cordial Ties

Colin Henderson

 Source Bloomberg ​ Lisa BeyerJuly 29, 2026 at 2:42 PM EDTA general view of damaged structures at the site of a strike in Bartalla in the northern Iraqi Nineveh province on July 29.Photographer: Zaid Al-Obeidi/AFP/Getty Images A new line of fighting in the war in the Middle East opened up on July 28 when Saudi Arabia launched an attack on Iraq, with which the kingdom has generally cordial relations. The strike, carried out in conjunction with US forces, targeted Iranian-backed militants in Iraq who, the Saudis said, had fired drones at Saudi oil facilities two days in a row.  Who are the Iraqi … Continue reading Why the Saudis Attacked Iraq Despite Cordial Ties

AI_factories, AI_research, Business Models

The Impending, Inescapable Deluge of A.I.

Colin Henderson

 Source NYT July 29, 2026 The milestones for artificial intelligence keep getting grander. In 2023, an A.I. system passed the bar exam. In 2025, the technology helped scientists identify a suspected cause of Alzheimer’s disease. In May, A.I. had advanced so far that it solved a complex math problem that had stumped experts for 80 years. Last week, two A.I. systems under testing went rogue and hacked into a company’s database. And this is still just the beginning. From the American Midwest to the Persian Gulf, hundreds of major data centers now under construction will be turned on in the coming years. They are … Continue reading The Impending, Inescapable Deluge of A.I.

AI_factories, AI_regulation, Chips, Europe, iran, Russia, US

Globalization Ends Not With a Bang, But Tariffs 2.0

Colin Henderson

​ Summarize Source: Bloomberg This time, the silence from markets and the media has been deafening. John AuthersJuly 28, 2026 at 8:54 PM EDT Trump touts tariffs to GM workers.Photographer: Sarah Rice/Bloomberg To get John Authers’ newsletter delivered directly to your inbox, sign up here. Today’s Points: Chips are still selling off ahead of hyperscalers’ earnings later this week. The latest round of new US tariffs has passed with scarcely a market murmur. The Swiss National Bank will keep zero rates until the end of next year. Trump says a peace deal with Iran is possible, as Brent dips below $90 per barrel. AND: More streaks across the firmament. Protectionism … Continue reading Globalization Ends Not With a Bang, But Tariffs 2.0

briefing

Morning Briefing — Tuesday, July 28, 2026 · 09:15 EST · ~1,130 words

Colin Henderson

Introduction The bombing pause is holding and has opened a genuine diplomacy window: Netanyahu is at the White House today, Iran-Oman-Saudi talks on reopening Hormuz continued through the weekend, and oil is easing on the optimism. The counterweights are a Fed meeting starting today where a hike is a live possibility, and an AI security story — the first documented autonomous AI cyberattack — that has hardened into an industry-wide coalition and a policy fight over open weights. Risk today clusters around whether the pause converts into structure or reverts to escalation. 1. What changed Iran talks: both sides claim … Continue reading Morning Briefing — Tuesday, July 28, 2026 · 09:15 EST · ~1,130 words

AI

Deep Dive: A Challenge to Palantir

Colin Henderson

The latest transatlantic technology brouhaha unfolded on Instagram. During a week in June when the leaders of the Group of Seven descended on France and Paris held its flagship technology conference, French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu took to the platform better known for aspirational travel content to announce his government was seeking a divorce with Palantir. The move followed Trump’s decision, four days earlier, to restrict foreign access to leading artificial intelligence models from Anthropic PBC. “France must have its own tools,” Lecornu said. After years of Europe advocating for more digital sovereignty, there’s a newfound sense of urgency to repatriate key services long outsourced … Continue reading Deep Dive: A Challenge to Palantir

Diplomacy, Geopolitics, Russia, US

The Self-Destruction of American Power

Colin Henderson

  Fareed Zakaria July/August 2019 Published on June 11, 2019 ​ Washington Squandered the Unipolar Moment Sometime in the last two years, American hegemony died. The age of U.S. dominance was a brief, heady era, about three decades marked by two moments, each a breakdown of sorts. It was born amid the collapse of the Berlin Wall, in 1989. The end, or really the beginning of the end, was another collapse, that of Iraq in 2003, and the slow unraveling since. But was the death of the United States’ extraordinary status a result of external causes, or did Washington accelerate its own demise through … Continue reading The Self-Destruction of American Power

AI, Business Models, US

Marx would love it

Colin Henderson

Michael Bloomberg pens a highly relevant and true danger in current US posture on AI. The more interesting given the direction is promoted by a right wing party. ————- Government-Owned AI Is a Terrible Idea ​ Summarize ​ Michael R. BloombergJuly 20, 2026 at 5:00 AM EDT Keep it in the people’s hands.Photographer: Oscar Wong/Moment RF In the push to regulate artificial intelligence, a dangerous idea is gaining ground in Washington: handing the government ownership stakes in the biggest AI companies. Both parties see immediate dollar signs. Neither is thinking longer-term. Somewhere, Karl Marx is smiling. It’s not surprising that Vermont’s … Continue reading Marx would love it