The head of Amnesty International’s major warning about Iran has been ignored for too long

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Surprisingly, artificial intelligence does not take the top political priority during a war — let alone an ill-advised war with Iran that has crippled energy markets, destabilized America’s relations with the Middle East and Europe, and alienated members of the president. Donald Trump The hardline MAGA coalition. (Just yesterday Joe Kentan election denier and congressional candidate whom Trump once endorsed, He announced that he would step down As director of the National Counterterrorism Center in protest of the Iran war.) But the impact it will have on the technology and AI industry — and industry in general — is so dire that David SacksThe billionaire AI and cryptocurrency czar who shapes the Trump administration’s tech policies has done something politically risky: He has publicly suggested that Donald Trump will find some way out of the Iran war.

last Friday on his podcast All inSachs and his crew presented several alarming realistic scenarios based on recent developments: Iran has signaled a willingness to attack oil and gas depots in neighboring countries, destroy desalination plants critical to supplying water to more than 100 million people (what Sachs described as a “humanitarian crisis” that would make the Middle East uninhabitable), and bomb Israel until it relents or decides to use a nuclear weapon. Democrats are likely to win the midterm elections. But also, and perhaps worse, World War III was possible. “This would be a really good time to take stock of where we are and try to look for a way out, I think,” he told his co-hosts. “And look, if escalation is not leading to anything good, then you have to think about, well, how do you de-escalate? And de-escalation, I think, involves reaching some kind of ceasefire agreement or some kind of negotiated settlement with Iran.”

Whatever advice Sachs tried to offer fell on deaf ears. On top of the US military’s ongoing attack on Iran’s oil infrastructure over the past few days, Trump said he was open to that Putting US forces on the ground in IranHe said NATO countries were reluctant to support him They were making a “foolish” decision.And just to add that He was considering invading Cuba next. Trump also told reporters this week that Sachs had not talked to him about the war either. Whether this is true or not, Trump often resorts to this explanation when he tries to downplay the importance of a critic. And the sources I talk to in the White House — especially those familiar with Trump’s Cabinet — are pessimistic that Sachs will have no chance of convincing the president to listen to him.

A David Sachs hater might note that the billionaire has reached the limits of his perceived influence over Trump. Meanwhile, every one of Trump’s former allies — especially those who don’t work for him — has come this far, too. The anti-war isolationists in MAGA have been completely betrayed. The giants of industry who care about the markets are at the mercy of Trump’s whims. Heck, Trump turned around and embraced Neocons They used to despise him, but now they are the only ones on the right demanding regime change in Iran. (If you want to learn how his administration’s subordinates empowered Trump, I was literally in the Pentagon last week To check vitality.)

Among Trump’s oligarchs, technologists may suffer the long-term effects. Unlike the MAGA base, which supported Trump for intangible ideological reasons, Big Tech companies had a deep financial incentive to remain aligned with the president. Much of the advantage they currently enjoy rests on their direct relationships and their ability to soothe his ego, which has certainly paid off over the past year: antitrust investigations have been dropped, trade loopholes opened, executive orders signed, and so on. (What do you think? Donations were in the ballroom for?) It is possible that they thought that the situation in Iran would be similar to Venezuela, where they would reap the benefits of seizing Iranian oil supplies, and decided not to intervene.

But there is a crucial trait they ignore, one that goes back to Trump’s relationship with Roy Cohn in the 1970s: Trump does not like to be humiliated by his opponents, and Trump always tends to respond with redoubled force in order to crush their morale, with little regard for the consequences or long-term damage. This is mostly evident through legal challenges and lawsuits in America, but has sometimes gone in a violent direction (see: January 6 and ICE protests in Minnesota). In this case, he is trying to overcome a violent religious theocracy, Which was announced militarily jihad against the United States In the wake of Khamenei’s death, it also possesses missiles. Rich nerds who make their beeps very There is little chance of Trump changing his mind, especially as long as this is the case A political condition on the right urges him to do so – And even if Sachs thought he was speaking to a friendly audience in a safe online space, there is no guarantee that Trump would be happy that he voiced his opposition. everyone.

Oh, right, cryptocurrencies are still happening too.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to attend much of the Blockchain conference this year (see: Iran) but it looks like some major developments have come out of it. Including CFTC and SEC projection of key guidance Most digital assets are not securities, which explains the way some cryptocurrencies are regulated and whose rules apply. But although it is the most comprehensive document ever released on this crucial issue, they also warn against it Still Congress needs to pass laws that would make these changes permanent, And the CFTC is very busy as it is. In other words: The Clarity Act still needs to pass, guys. This seems to be going great. right?

..another blockchain-based bar! This time, Polymarket has announced the surprise opening of The Situation Room, “the world’s first bar dedicated to situation monitoring.” According to renderings posted on (Polymarket did not immediately comment on the whereabouts of said tape.)

I’ve been doing some spring cleaning at home and recently found a quart-sized Ziploc bag containing a few spare coins that I’ve been meaning to drop off at Coinstar for over a year. But I’m lazy, and if there’s anything I’ve learned from TMZ, it’s that paying money for stories works (sometimes). So, I’ll give this bag of money to anyone who can send me original, verified, non-AI generated footage This fight has been reported between Sam Altman And playwright Jeremy O Harris Exclusive and unofficial Vanity gallery Oscars, allegedly due to OpenAI’s contract with the Pentagon. (I assume an audience organizer Made up of Hollywood stars.)

And no, I will not send you the cash equivalent of the bag’s value. The condition of payment is that you have to take this bag out of my hand, including all the Costa Rican currency. I keep all the quadrants. And in the highly unlikely event that someone follows up on this offer, I’d have to get permission from Nilay Patel to break the ethics policy this time, because that’s technically a quid pro quo, albeit a very terrible quid pro quo for anyone sending it.