Seven weeks into war, Iran is enjoying financial windfall
• During first 40 days of war Washington let Tehran load as many oil tankers as it wished
• US also temporarily lifted sanctions on Iranian oil, meaning Tehran didn't need to offer discounts to buyers anymore
www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Revenues generated per US dollar of fixed assets are dropping fast among US tech firms
• For each US dollar of property and equipment, Amazon makes just US$2 and Meta US$1 in revenue
• Apple is key exception, as firm has mostly stayed out of debt-fuelled AI boom
www.ft.com/content/805f...

KAL's cartoon in The Economist this week

EU and Malaysia aim to seal trade deal by October 2027 - Borderlex - European trade policy The EU and Malaysia are pushing to conclude a free trade agreement by October 2027 to mark the 50th anniversary of relations between the EU and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

EU and Malaysia are eyeing concluding talks on a trade agreeement by October 2027 - but it won't be plain sailing, the commission admitted today. More by me for Borderlex subscribers below borderlex.net/2026/04/16/e...

Fertiliser shortages linked to Hormuz closure come at start of planting season in many places
• Planting season for rice in China & Bangladesh, wheat in China, and corn in US starts in Mar/Apr
• Iran war has trapped around one-third of global seaborne fertiliser supplies
www.ft.com/content/27e0...

POLITICO Pro: White House message to oil CEOs: Pump more oil Gasoline prices remain high as the conflict with Iran continues.

SCOOP: Trump admin will urge top oil & gas CEOs in a Thursday call to boost drilling it bid to lower oil prices.

Secs. WRIGHT and BURGUM will lead call. CEOs for leading companies (XOM, CVX, OXY, CLR) invited, among others.

w/ @benlefebvre.bsky.social

subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2026...

South Korea is among most enthusiastic backers of industrial policy and state interventions
• Seoul is heavily supporting private firms, esp chipmakers amid AI boom
• Conflict in Iran could disrupt plans; Middle East supplies 70% of South Korea's oil and 20% of gas
www.economist.com/finance-and-...

Sowing discord: How Russia is making the most of a global fertiliser shortage – European Council on Foreign Relations Amid fears of an Iran war-fuelled global food crisis, Moscow is weaponising access to its fertiliser supplies in both Western countries and developing economies

Hormuz's closure has trapped one-third of global fertiliser supplies - Amid fears of a food crisis, for @ecfr.eu I explore how Moscow is applying its covid-19 vaccine diplomacy playbook to fertilisers in a bid to curry favour in the global south and secure sanctions relief
ecfr.eu/article/sowi...

‼️ Russia: “Putin: Calendar and weather factors are the reasons for the decline in GDP”

🇷🇺: 😅

www.gazeta.ru/business/new...

Line chart showing weekly US crude + products exports, '000s BPD, since 1991

Data released this morning showed US petroleum exports (crude + products) rising to a record 12.7mm bpd in the week ending April 10.

MAGA Is Starting to Look Beyond Trump A seemingly endless torrent of criticism directed toward Trump from former MAGA allies suggests the president is losing support from his base.

NEW:

MAGA is already looking beyond Trump

www.wired.com/story/maga-i...

Sowing discord: How Russia is making the most of a global fertiliser shortage – European Council on Foreign Relations Amid fears of an Iran war-fuelled global food crisis, Moscow is weaponising access to its fertiliser supplies in both Western countries and developing economies

Hormuz's closure has trapped one-third of global fertiliser supplies - Amid fears of a food crisis, for @ecfr.eu I explore how Moscow is applying its covid-19 vaccine diplomacy playbook to fertilisers in a bid to curry favour in the global south and secure sanctions relief
ecfr.eu/article/sowi...

U.S. sends thousands more troops to Mideast as Trump seeks to squeeze Iran The deployment includes sailors and Marines due to arrive as the administration attempts to enforce a maritime blockade against the regime in Tehran.

Breaking WaPo:

The Pentagon is sending thousands of additional troops into the Middle East in the coming days.

The forces moving into the region include about 6,000 troops aboard the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush and several warships escorting it. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

Many middle powers are fast diversifying trade ties away from the US
• In May-Dec 2025 trade among UK, Canada, EU, Japan, South Korea and Switzerland rose by 12%
• EU leads the way, as recent burst of free-trade deals with Mercosur, India and Australia illustrates
www.economist.com/finance-and-...

"The Pope is incorrect on matters of theology" is excommunication time.

H/t @jumulojimbus.bsky.social

Many middle powers are fast diversifying trade ties away from the US
• In May-Dec 2025 trade among UK, Canada, EU, Japan, South Korea and Switzerland rose by 12%
• EU leads the way, as recent burst of free-trade deals with Mercosur, India and Australia illustrates
www.economist.com/finance-and-...

Russia is struggling to make the most of Iran war-fuelled rise in oil prices
• Number of oil shipments keeps dropping and is now at lowest level since last August
• Large Black Sea export terminals in Novorossiysk remain out of operation following Ukrainian strikes
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

US oil exports could hit record-high levels in April amid Hormuz disruptions
• US exports could jump by almost a third to 5.2m b/d this month, up from 3.9m b/d in March
• Demand from Asian customers, which are most affected by Hormuz disruptions, is particularly high
www.ft.com/content/c749...

How Iran’s Information War Machine Operates Online In just 69 minutes, Iran took advantage of a global network of accounts and media channels to spread its narrative around the world.

Belle enquête du @nytimes.com sur le fonctionnement de l'appareil de guerre informationnelle de l'Iran.
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

People write these posts as if a blockade of Taiwan has no costs for the PRC. PRC manufacturing is dependent on inputs from Taiwan, especially of chips. Millions of workers go out of work the moment shipments stop. Further, shipping insurance costs rise, which hits export/import-dependent PRC.

The reality is a bit more mundane: only DINUM (the directorate for digital affairs, which counts just 250 employees) will switch to Linux?

A Closed Strait of Hormuz Risks a Global Food Security Crisis The war in Iran has done more than rattle energy markets. It has exposed an ordinary farm input as a strategic commodity. Urea is a concentrated,

A crisis in the Strait of Hormuz is no longer just about oil. It is quietly threatening the global food supply.

After Ukraine, France is the European country most targeted by foreign disinformation ops
• Many campaigns come from Russia, which finds fertile ground in France for such ops
• Pro-Russian (/anti-US) sentiment is more widespread in France relative to other EU states
www.economist.com/europe/2026/...

Conflict in the Middle East has put one-third of seaborne fertiliser supplies at risk
• India, Brazil, China, Morocco, Indonesia are particularly reliant on Gulf-made fertilisers
• UN reckons 45m more people in poorer countries could face acute food insecurity by June
www.ft.com/content/27e0...

Don't blame America's current account deficit on the dollar The Trump administration and China's leaders generally differ on economic policy, but on one proposition some prominent members of their economic teams seem to agree: The dollar's status as the world'...

If not the US dollar, what are the main major drivers of current account imbalances today?
- Unsustainable US federal budget outlook
- China's failure to shift its economy further toward a non-deflationary, consumption-driven growth model

by Maury Obstfeld

This doesn't mean switching to Linux, but presenting a plan to reduce dependencies to non-European providers (and the plan could take many forms :))

No, a plan to reduce dependencies to non-European systems :) (which is quite different!)

Of course! :)

The reality is a bit more mundane: only DINUM (the directorate for digital affairs, which counts just 250 employees) will switch to Linux?

My reading is that only DINUM (the directorate for digital affairs, which counts just 250 employees) will switch to Linux?