My mid-week morning train WFH reads:
• How Trump Took the U.S. to War With Iran: Maggie Haberman reconstructs the Situation Room deliberations that led to war. Trump overruled his vice president and ignored pessimistic intelligence assessments—a pattern that should surprise nobody. (New York Times) see also U.S. and Iran agree to 2-week ceasefire. And on TACO Tuesday no less! (NPR)
• The American Gas Exporter That Pulls In Billions During Energy Shocks: Venture Global is set to benefit from the tightening global natural-gas market. (Wall Street Journal)
• Misreading the tea leaves: It is said that “the market” no longer expects rate cuts in 2026 and increasingly views Fed hikes as a possibility. That seems odd. For the past two years, the Fed has been unwilling to slow demand growth to levels necessary to hit its inflation target. But now that same institution will hike rates into an exogenous supply shock, exacerbating its drag on economic activity? That’d mark quite an inversion of the adage that one should control the things you can and accept those you cannot. (Carlyle)
• The Ridiculously Nerdy Intel Bet That Could Rake in Billions: Advanced chip packaging is suddenly at the center of the AI boom. Intel is going all in. (Wired)
• Private equity buyouts slump as AI fears and war dent dealmaking Groups agreed acquisitions worth $172bn in three months to March, a 36% fall from previous quarter. (Financial Times)
• Salem’s Lot: Gulf War update; a US fossil fuel reliance fever dream: The US Air Force has flown over 13,000 missions in Iran, striking over 12,000 targets. Iranian drone and missile strikes have declined by 90%-95% since the war began, and interception rates by Gulf countries is reported at 90%+. Retired Air Force Brigadier General Cantwell: “The fact that there have not been more fighter jets lost in Iran is a testament to the capabilities of US forces. That this hasn’t happened until now is an absolute miracle.” (Eye on the Market)
• In Parks and on Rooftops, Urban Beekeeping Takes Flight: Raising honeybees in the city has emerged as a popular sustainability practice — and a big business. But hives can also leave native pollinators in a sticky fix. (CityLab)
• ‘This Was the Real Thing’: Meet the Woman Who Alerts the World When an Asteroid Could Hit: A profile of the UN official responsible for warning humanity about asteroid impacts. The most important job nobody’s heard of. (The Guardian)
• ‘An Operational Success and a Huge Strategic Failure’ Perhaps the most apt description of Trump’s policy toward Iran is an “incoherent maze” — a phrase Pete Hegseth applied in 2016 to Barack Obama’s foreign policy. Lost in his own labyrinth, Trump granted sanctions relief to Iran even as he bombed it, and careened from threatening war crimes unless Iran opened the strait to suggesting that the strait wasn’t our concern. (New York Times) see also The Mythology of Pete Hegseth: Garrett Graff dismantles the mythology Hegseth has built around himself as the Iran War’s cheerleader-in-chief. The alternate history he’s selling is dangerous. (Doomsday Scenario)
• Maga stands by Trump on Iran — for now: On the streets of small-town Georgia, the president’s base is backing the war as swing voters waver. (Financial Times)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business next week with Songyee Yoon, founder and managing partner of Principal Venture Partners, an AI-focused investment firm established in 2024, and since 2025 a member of the board of directors of HP.
These Cities and States Are Taking Aim at Data Centers
Source: Wall Street Journal
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