Coffee in the Desert

Coffee in the Desert

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Will the GCC be an inference or frontier AI powerhouse?

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The Bottleneck That Could Break Trump’s Gaza Plan
Israel’s Border Controls Threaten Reconstruction Before It Begins
 • Jesse Marks
When does an AI model become “Arab”?
The Middle East’s AI race focuses on hardware, but there is a deeper question about whether models can think in Arabic, not merely translate into it…
 • Jesse Marks
Will Trump overthrow the Iranian regime?
Syria’s experience show that U.S.
 • Jesse Marks
Winning the Chip War, Losing the Supply Chain?
This is the next paper in a series of essays on U.S.-China-GCC technology competition.
Published on Coffee in the Desert • 
Winning the Chip War, Losing the Supply Chain?
This is the next paper in a series of essays on U.S.-China-GCC technology competition.
 • Jesse Marks
NCUSCR Panel: China's Reaction to U.S. military action in Venezuela ft. Margaret Myers & Tong Zhao
I recently had the privilege of modernating panel with the National Committee on US-China Relations to discuss China’s reaction to U.S.
 • Jesse Marks
Can China interpret Trump's chaos?
The Trump administration has thrown international affairs into new levels of volatility.
 • Jesse Marks
Petro-Compute and the Question of Gulf Leverage
If China sees the GCC as a deployment market for its own AI technologies, the United States, under the Trump Administration, has made the GCC a critical…
 • Jesse Marks
China’s AI Cooperation in the GCC: Complementarity Without Interdependence
This piece is the third in a series of deep dives into United States-China competition in Middle East AI ecosystems.
 • Jesse Marks
Is Venezuela Trump's "Iraq Moment"?
Trump struck venezuela and captured its leader. Is this the beginning of another Iraq-style forever war or something different? I discuss.
 • Jesse Marks
The Decoupling Debate: Chinese Scholars Assess U.S. Chip Restrictions
This paper examines how Chinese scholars assess China's self-sufficiency prospects under U.S. driven chip constraints.
Published on Rocks, Rockets, & Robots • 
Seven Books That Shaped My Thinking on Geopolitics, Competition, and Power in 2025
As another year closes, I find myself reflecting on the books that most challenged and refined my understanding of the major strategic contests defining…
 • Jesse Marks
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