If you see a username on 𝕏 with this symbol: ⏸️ Know that you are dealing with a Decel / Pause AI clown. The "pause" symbol is used by these activists for virtue signalling of their Anti-AI stance. They literally want to halt all development of AI. 🤦‍♂️ Avoid those.

2026, day 261 Good morning from Australia - and it’s yet another day of major geopolitical headlines from Greenland to Russia to AI to east Asia. GEOPOLITICS: 🌍🔥 ‘Trump claims deal with Denmark for ‘permanent’ US security control over Greenland’ (AFP) - “From now on, no US adversary can EVER have a base in Greenland, have a military presence in Greenland, or make sensitive investments in Greenland, without our express written approval…We will immediately begin the process of developing a large Military presence in the appropriate part of Greenland, of which there are many.”; ‘Putin preparing to escalate war’ (Telegraph) - “European leaders fear president will mobilise more troops and increase hybrid attacks on Nato after latest sham election ‘European leaders prepare public for ‘intensified threat’ from Putin’ (Politico) - “However, NATO sees no risk of “imminent attack””; ‘Macron orders protection of France’s infrastructure against ‘Russian hybrid attacks’’ (AFP); ‘Macron to call emergency G7 meeting as energy prices spike and Russian hybrid attacks mount’ (Politico); ‘Trump signs Russia sanctions bill that opens China, India to tariffs’ (Nikkei Asia) - “Law gives US leader authority to impose 100% levies on Moscow's top energy buyers”; ‘The world must force Russia to end mass starvation in occupied Oleshky’ (Kyiv Independent); ‘Drone hit Russian nuclear plant cooling tower, no fire: IAEA’ (AFP); ‘Trump touts plan for new U.S. base in Poland as NATO ally's leader warns of "real risk" from Russia’ (CBS); ‘Ukraine, Russia are done with Steve Witkoff. Trump sees no problem’ (Kyiv Independent); ‘More U.S. troops have died amid Iran war than Pentagon has disclosed publicly’ (WaPo); ‘US military had close call after using AI for false intelligence report, sources say’ (CNN) - “the intelligence report….A Chinese ship in the Middle East was transporting components of a nuclear weapons program…. was “entirely false.” But it also “almost started a war,””; ‘OpenAI's Sam Altman to brief UN Security Council next week’ (Reuters); ‘Australia must train AI at home to protect national security: ASD boss’ (AFR); ‘South Korea’s FM stresses to Rubio its intent to contribute to restoring free passage in Hormuz’ (Reuters); ‘Italy to escort its own ships through the Red Sea over Aspides delays’ (Euractiv); ‘Collision near Sabina Shoal sparks fresh escalation between China and the Philippines’ (SCMP); ‘CGA plans a historic 2027 visit to Philippines’ (Taipei Times) - “Coast Guard Administration (CGA) ships are scheduled to sail to the Philippines bearing the words “Taiwan Coast Guard” in a high-profile visit in October next year”; ‘Takaichi seeks Trump meeting early next week ahead of US-China summit’ (Nikkei Asia); GEOECONOMICS: 🌍 ✈️ ⛴️ 🚛 ‘Xi’s edge over Trump on AI’ (FT) - “The US president’s anti-regulatory stance fails to take into account that China is catching up”; ‘Irish Finance Minister says Hormuz closure, not Ukraine, causing energy crisis’ (Euronews); ‘Record US diesel prices squeeze farmers; food prices may rise’ (Reuters); ‘Shipping’s New Normal: Slower Trade, Higher Costs, Bigger Profits’ (gCaptain); ‘US, China Weigh Reducing or Eliminating China’s LNG Tariff’ (Reuters); ‘Trump Extends $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee as Legal Fight Plays Out’ (BBG); POLITICS: 🗳️ ‘Germany’s Merz girds for a post-election fight for political survival’ (Politico) - “One conservative official predicts “all hell breaks loose” if the ruling CDU fails to win any seats in the regional election in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania”; ‘Trump Says He Is Banning CNN, MS NOW and Politico From the White House’ (WSJ); ‘From vodka to vanished names: Russia’s parliamentary election gets off to a strange start’ (Ynet); MARKETS: 📈 ‘OpenAI expects to burn $280bn by 2030’ (FT); ‘The BOJ’s Balancing Act With Bessent Is Only Going to Get Harder’ (BBG); ‘White House attacks Fed official after review of Silicon Valley Bank collapse’ (FT)

North Korea will place anti-South Korea loudspeakers on standby along the entire border within days and has put unspecified new countermeasures on alert, Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korea's leader, said

This Stan Druckenmiller opinion piece in the WSJ today is brilliantly written and 100% accurate! Everyone needs to read it - especially the Treasury Secretary and whoever in the administration and on Wall St. that might have pressured him into taking such an anti-free market approach.

A video game lawyer says anti-AI clauses are becoming standard in game development contracts. Haley MacLean, a lawyer who works with indie and AA studios, says almost all her clients now have contracts that restrict or ban generative AI. The change has happened quickly over the past year, as devs and publishers add these clauses to avoid legal risks and because many gamers hate AI-generated content. AI-created assets can be hard to prove ownership of, and if based on copyrighted material they risk infringement claims. She expects lawsuits over AI-generated game assets in coming years as companies use AI more to cut costs.

the part that stands out to me with Grass is how valuable access to the open web becomes as AI scales more websites are putting anti-bot infrastructure in front of public data, while cloud and VPN traffic gets filtered more aggressively Grass uses distributed residential internet connections to help AI labs access publicly available web data through a different route as models need more fresh data, that access layer becomes increasingly important