BREAKING: Huge and momentous news. The US congressional bottleneck for Ukraine military aid has been cleared. A crucial day for the civilized world and democracy and a bad day for Putin.

Adam Smith demonstrating a remarkable awareness of the relationship between wealth and power. 'Wealth, as Mr. Hobbes says, is power...the power of purchasing; a certain command over all the labour, or over all the produce of labour, which is then in the market'

Macron can be criticized in many ways but he will be remembered as the only European politician of his generation who wrestled with imp questions on the future of EU. Macron sees Europe as a 'thing', something that must be nurtured or advanced, not just a market & a useful club

After a couple of wonderful days in Chicago for Stigler Center conference:

1) in the policy discourse and practice, new Brandeisians are big winners. Should not become too celebratory though.

2) Academics still say it depends, give us more data and we’ll let you know… (when?)

Key points AI Now Institute is making:
#GDK24

Lib Dems are gonna turtle along at 9%, have nothing written about them, and win 40 seats

I’m speaking on a panel this morning with Damian Boeselager MEP and OVHcloud on what the next EU needs to do on digital policy.

I’ll be calling for a much bigger focus on scale and market power across the Commission’s work.

Watch it here from 10am:

m.youtube.com/watch?v=dJKRz1…

For Foreign Policy, I embedded with an artillery brigade on the frontlines of Europe. What I saw there should terrify Western leaders.
Ukraine is bleeding out, and without immediate ammunition deliveries the total collapse of the eastern front is at risk.
foreignpolicy.com/2024/04/17/ukr…

Massive protests in Georgia against a Russian-style law that could be used to label political opponents as 'foreign agents'

Meme from last year but still accurate

Undoing the pointless damage of Brexit, step by bureaucratic step.

I believe this framing of Europe's problem as one of lack of competitiveness (by Mario Draghi) might be helpful as a political rallying cry, but it is problematic from an economic standpoint. geopolitique.eu/en/2024/04/16/…. +

monopoly much.

NEW: One of the UK’s most high profile A.I. start ups Stability AI announced a round of layoffs last night. More to follow

When you talk big but can't walk the talk (yet)

Big telecoms mergers in Europe would cut competition and distort the bloc’s prized single market, the European Union’s competition chief Margrethe Vestager warned in an apparent rebuttal of calls in a new EU report for more consolidation: bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

There’s the excellent ⁦Max von Thun⁩ speaking at ⁦Adenauer-Stiftung⁩ right now

Listen to Max von Thun keynote @kasonline : Is Europe able to meet the challenge of building a more open #AI ecosystem alone, or it needs help from others like the US? 6pm Antitrust becomes main dish #eudatasummit #DMA