Good morning. Steve Bannon has made a career out of clashing with far-left politicians. But these days, President Trump's former chief strategist has found a common cause with them: opposition to the AI boom.

The far-right podcast host has joined Democrats in warning about the dangers of artificial intelligence and the need to fight data centers that power AI deployment.

Strange bedfellows: Bannon backs a proposal from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.), who are aligned with the insurgent Democratic socialists, to ban the construction of new data centers. He has rallied grassroots support to fight the Trump administration's efforts to deploy an industry-friendly AI strategy that bans states from passing their own regulations, and he backs Sanders's recent call for AI companies to pause development. The positions put him squarely at odds with his former boss.

Defining issue: Bannon said he was looking past his disagreements with progressives on issues such as immigration because AI will be the defining issue of the future. "If we don't get this right, none of that other stuff is going to matter," Bannon said in an interview. "I have not seen any issue in modern American life at the populist level that unites disparate elements of our country more than this."

Horseshoe politics: Bannon's experience shows how AI is the latest "horseshoe issue" that unites the left and right populist flanks of each party. The bipartisan opposition to the data centers, which is growing even as little has been done to address the issue in Washington, is driven by concerns about the centers' power and water consumption, potential AI-caused job losses and broad distrust of Big Tech.

President Trump's view: "The only reason that communities throughout the U.S.A. should not want Data Centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor," Trump said on social media Monday.

Risk Journal Podcast

The Trump administration is targeting Banque Misr's UAE operations as it expands pressure on the foreign institutions that provide Iran with access to the global financial system. Also, a federal judge brings New York's new climate superfund law to a grinding halt.

You can listen to new episodes every Friday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon.

Compliance

U.S. eases sanctions on Venezuelan gold, minerals sectors.

The U.S. Treasury eased sanctions on Venezuela's gold, coal and minerals sectors by providing general licenses for U.S. companies to supply services and enabling companies to enter into preliminary talks for new investments, Risk Journal reports (free link).

The trio of general licenses, issued by Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, allow U.S. companies to sell and export minerals produced by Venezuelan state-owned mining companies Minerven and Carbozulia. The licenses also allow the provision of technology and other services to the mining sector. OFAC must sign off on deals for new investments in the sector before final execution.

IRS proposes rules to strip tax exemptions from colleges using race in policies.

The Trump administration proposed rules that would let the IRS strip tax-exempt status from private schools and colleges if the government determines that they have racial preferences or discrimination in admissions, scholarships, policies and other programs.

The rules from the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service would declare racial discrimination contrary to fundamental public policy in the U.S., continuing the Trump administration's push against affirmative action and diversity, equity and inclusion policies. The move opens a new front in the administration's attempt to reshape higher education, which it has accused of liberal excess.

The NBA stripped the Los Angeles Clippers of five draft picks, fined them $30 million and suspended owner Steve Ballmer for a year. An investigation found the Clippers used four companies to funnel money to star player Kawhi Leonard beyond the league's maximum salary cap.

Authorities in Norway seized a Russian cruise ship at a port in Svalbard, enforcing a Norwegian court order tied to a $4.22 billion arbitration award Ukraine's state-owned energy group Naftogaz won against Russia at The Hague.

The U.S. has hit Cuba with a new sanctions package, targeting a major commercial bank alongside players in the island's mining and energy industries as the Trump administration continues to pressure Havana.

The volume of financial activity tied to digital asset-related scams in the period from Sept. 2023 to Dec. 2025, according to a new analysis from the U.S. Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

Risk

Netherlands moves gold from New York to London, citing geopolitical unrest.

The Dutch central bank shifted the location of 78 metric tons of gold, worth $11 billion at today's prices, from vaults beneath the streets of Manhattan to London, saying it would improve the ability to trade the metal in a pinch.

The high-security operation took several months to pull off. Some of the gold was sold in the U.S. and repurchased in the U.K. Other bars were flown to Europe, likely in the storage hold of planes. The result: Almost a third of the Dutch gold reserve is in London and a still chunky 19% in New York, flipping their earlier positions.

"In view of increasing geopolitical unrest, DNB is strengthening its crisis preparedness," the central bank said in a statement referring to its Dutch acronym. The central bank also moved some gold from vaults in Canada.

El Nino is yet to peak, bringing heat and agricultural damage in tow, UN says.

This year's El Nino is on track to be the strongest in at least 70 years, further increasing the likelihood of widescale disruption to global agricultural markets.

The likelihood of El Nino persisting through February 2027 is now close to 100%, according to new forecasts from the World Meteorological Organization, a UN agency.

Any trade pact Canada strikes with the U.S. must ensure that agreed-upon tariff levels on certain goods would not be subject to change, Prime Minister Mark Carney said.

The federal government's dwindling cybersecurity agency is increasingly seen as a weak link in national security, as ongoing downsizing efforts run up against cyber adversaries armed with advanced artificial intelligence.

U.S. oil executives are concerned about the Trump administration's backing of North American Blue Energy Partners in Venezuela.

Novartis and Bristol Myers Squibb paused clinical trials for their experimental autoimmune CAR-T therapies due to serious safety concerns.

Chinese warships are cruising too close for comfort off Japan's shores.

Japanese ministries submitted record budget requests of nearly 143 trillion yen, equivalent to $918 billion.

World food prices rose in August, with the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization food price index up 1.9% from July and up 2.5% from a year earlier.

Dow Jones Global Horizons

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What Else Matters

When it comes to some of President Trump's most audacious actions, the toughest question for legal challengers isn't whether they have winning arguments. It is whether they can sue at all.

Volkswagen's supervisory board has approved a plan to double job losses at the automaker to 100,000 and halve its model portfolio as it contends with President Trump's tariffs and intensifying competition from Chinese automakers.

Randy Mastro fought to keep an NFL football stadium out of Manhattan, booted the mob from a fish market and put Brooklyn Catholics back in pews during the Covid-19 pandemic. His biggest target these days is Zohran Mamdani.

The most-endangered species in corporate America today might be the manager overseeing a tiny team.

About Us

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