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Publication day for "Chasing Hope: A Reporter's Life"! Thanks to all who have helped it come together. It's available everywhere for purchase or download.
Nicholas Kristof
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NY Times columnist, author and farmer of cider apples and wine grapes @KristofFarms
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It's true, as @Lana_Nusseibeh says, that "There's nobody who doesn't come from somewhere." But it's still not obvious to me why the next UN Secretary-General should be from the UAE cabal that turned first Yemen and then Sudan into the world's worst humanitarian crises. Hello?
UAE’s Nusseibeh in a new interview with FT was asked how she could uphold international humanitarian law after serving a government known to be violating it, particularly in Sudan. She responded: “There’s nobody who doesn’t come from somewhere,” and that she had seen countries of all sizes accused of violating international humanitarian law.View quoted post on X
Seems to me the result of Trump choosing Stephen Miller as chief of staff is likely to be: a.) more extremism and recklessness; b.) lower Trump poll ratings; c.) a handful of GOP senators willing to join Democrats on occasional issues (e.g. Ukraine aid) so as to override Trump vetoes.
Any country should be ashamed to support @Lana_Nusseibeh for UN Secretary General after years in which she was chief apologist for the arms pipeline that has resulted in mass murder and rape in Sudan. Could anyone be more contrary to UN values?
I'm hearing the next(ninth) UNSC straw poll for UN Secretary General is likely to be held Thursday, with differentiated red ballots for 5 veto wielding members of the Security Council. However, date not formalized. Should offer greater clarity on candidates prospects.View quoted post on X
This is an astonishing policy failure in managing chips crucial to national security and our economic future -- because the administration knew what was going on and did nothing.
The story keeps getting crazier. To recap everything that has been reported so far:View quoted post on X
- The US intelligence community discovered that Jensen Huang, the CEO of the largest company in the world, was sleeping with Alice Huang, a Chinese spy and an executive at Megaspeed. (FT)
- Multiple independent investigations have concluded that Megaspeed is likely a Chinese cutout, which helps Chinese companies access AI chips or circumvent export controls. (NYT and Bloomberg)
- The US intelligence community also concluded that Alice Huang’s goal was to convince Jensen to lobby the U.S. government to loosen export controls on advanced AI chips. (NYT)
- The intelligence community relayed this information to “a small group of top US government officials” earlier this year. (FT)
- Over the last year, Jensen Huang has repeatedly lobbied the U.S. government to loosen export controls on advanced chips. @BISgov has done so, not only by permitting the export of H200 chips to China, but also not enforcing export controls that would have required a license for exports of the most advanced Blackwell chips to Megaspeed and Southeast Asia.
- Although @CommerceGov leadership was presumably briefed on this information by the U.S. intelligence community, @BISgov has taken no actions to tighten controls on Megaspeed or Southeast Asia.
- Megaspeed remains a preferred cloud partner of Nvidia, and continues to receive Nvidia Blackwell chips despite employing a Chinese spy who reportedly is romantically engaged with the CEO of Nvidia.
- Tens of billions of dollars worth of AI chips have been exported to Southeast Asia this year alone, and Malaysia and Singapore are now two of the four largest importers of AI chips in the world.
What is going on here??? We need answers. The question of who gets the most advanced AI chips in the world is literally the defining strategic question of our time. And not only does it seem like the MSS may be directly influencing the debate on export controls in the United States, but also @CommerceGov is refusing to listen to the warnings of the IC on this issue. What is a POSSIBLE good explanation for why Megaspeed is still receiving chips? Why is there not a license requirement for AI chip shipments to all of Southeast Asia? This is beyond strange at this point.
The fallout from this story will be massive. Obviously, the motivations underpinning Nvidia’s policy views opposing export controls must now all be questioned. But also, how did @BISgov sit on this information and has still taken no actions? We need answers.
