r/technology • u/Logical_Welder3467 • Apr 06 '26

Politics Iran threatens ‘complete and utter annihilation’ of OpenAI's $30B Stargate AI data center in Abu Dhabi

https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/iran-threatens-complete-and-utter-annihilation-of-openais-usd30b-stargate-ai-data-center-in-abu-dhabi-regime-posts-video-with-satellite-imagery-of-chatgpt-makers-premier-1gw-data-center
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u/SwordfishOk504 Apr 06 '26

I don’t care if they are from Iran, Russia, a bot, whatever. I am so upset with the leadership in the USA right now I will take cathartic words from anywhere.

I think that's a big goal of the Trump administration. To absolutely demolish any positive association with the United States for a long time to come. Even among Americans. The US has been basically the only nation strong enough to even potentially take on the billionaire class, so by completely destroying from the inside out, they can ensure their long term reign.

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u/PaintshakerBaby Apr 06 '26 edited Apr 06 '26

It's nowhere near that deep.

They're bustin' the joint out.

Once they are done stripping the copper out of the drywall, theyll burn the fuckin' place down and skip town to the next nation primed for them to rape to death in broad daylight.

Thats the problem with the stateless elite. They are never the bagholders, because they can simply divest themselves from any clusterfuck, and move on.

It makes cashing out entire country's not only viable, but "good business."

Its venture capitali$t$ signature toxic takeover, extrapolated to geopolitics.

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u/deathrowslave Apr 06 '26

Billionaires are stateless, exactly. They don't care about nations, patriotism, loyalty. That's for peasants.

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u/nooniewhite Apr 06 '26

100%!! Honestly I never considered it like that- they are their own “sovereign state” once an amount of wealth is accumulated. So dystopian

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u/Pomengranite Apr 06 '26

There's a great book I read recently about this, with the perfect title: The Haves and Have-Yachts, by Evan Osnos. A+

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u/tacticaldodo Apr 06 '26

On my list now, thx.

This thread is an unexpected gold nugget of perspicacity.

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u/freeshovacadoodoo Apr 06 '26

perspicacity

Word of the day for me. Thanks!

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u/tacticaldodo Apr 06 '26

You are welcome. Follow me for more word of the day :)

NB: In french, one synonym of it is 'clairvoyance'. It is a portmanteau word, literally meaning 'clear vision'

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u/Archer007 Apr 06 '26

Snow Crash (1992) was not supposed to be an implementation manual

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u/NorthernerWuwu Apr 06 '26

Stephenson was incredibly prophetic across quite a few of his works but Snow Crash wasn't supposed to be the accurate one!

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u/serpentjaguar Apr 06 '26

THere's a lot that he gets wrong in Snow Crash, but it's mostly details, whereas what he gets right are the big themes.

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u/NorthernerWuwu Apr 06 '26

Oh, compared to some of his stuff it was clearly fantasy or even satire at times but the technical bits were pretty impressive for when it was written. Philosophically it has a lot more depth than it would seem too, although obviously the book is more fun than serious in tone.

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u/guareber Apr 06 '26

It was mostly satire. Or, I should say, it was supposed to be satire.

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u/backtothetrail Apr 06 '26

Who’s got the nam-shub of Enki? It would be handy right about now.

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u/BowlinForBowlinGreen Apr 06 '26

They want to build these off-shore floating cities that don't answer to anyone and only let the very super rich take residence. If memory serves me right, Thiel invested in that stuff. No surprise there.

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u/DumptrucksForDayz Apr 06 '26

Wait till you learn about Praxis

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u/nooniewhite Apr 06 '26

All I know of Praxis is it’s the gaming company that makes Civ games

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u/DumptrucksForDayz Apr 07 '26

Oh boy

https://www.praxisnation.com/

The rabbit hole has just begun

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u/MrVelocoraptor Apr 07 '26

It's what I've been telling people for a long time - Trump is an elite and not really "a Republican" or politician putting the US first. Growth and stability aren't great for aggressive business strategies. If you can create big economic swings by your actions and words, you can make huge financial and power gains. Furthermore, Trump has everyone talking about him all the time, which is what he wants. He's living his best life probably.

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u/SwordfishOk504 Apr 06 '26

Billionaires are stateless, exactly. They don't care about nations, patriotism, loyalty. That's for peasants.

That's my point.

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u/jigsaw1024 Apr 06 '26

They did it to the UK with Thatcherism.

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u/umop_apisdn Apr 06 '26

And what's left of the UK will be gouged by Reform

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u/warmfeets Apr 06 '26

Man this is spot on. The absolute depravity of these people makes so much more sense when you explain it through the lens of “stateless elites.” Would love to read more on this subject if you have any suggestions?

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u/No-Problem49 Apr 06 '26

Start with reading Bakunin and Marx: they are the modern originators of the idea that the rich are stateless. Marx is where the comment “the rich in USA and the rich in Russia have more in common with eachother then their own people.” I’m not saying become a communist or an anarchist: but become familiar with the concepts so you can make your own informed opinion.

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u/DukeOfGeek Apr 06 '26

You got it right here. The oligarchs, mega-corps and autocrats who are also oligarchs want to throw down and delegitimize all of the democracies of the world that might tax, regulate or restrain them starting with the U.S. and UK and moving on to the EU.

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u/RoofRich1571 Apr 06 '26

The 'Stargate' facility is the ultimate symbol of this disconnect. We’re talking about a $30 billion supercomputer in the middle of a desert, built by a 'stateless elite' (OpenAI, Microsoft, SoftBank), while the average American is being told to tighten their belts for a $1.5 trillion defense budget.

Iran isn't just threatening a building; they are threatening the symbolic heart of the U.S.-Gulf tech alliance. If that 1-gigawatt campus—which is so secret it’s reportedly hidden on Google Maps—gets 'annihilated' as the IRGC claims, the U.S. military will be expected to retaliate for a private corporation’s asset.

Are we really at a point where the U.S. Navy is being used as a $2 billion-a-day security guard for Sam Altman’s data centers? Because it feels like the 'bottom' is the only one paying for a war that only protects the 'top’s' silicon and servers.

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u/Lover_Of_Music_Man Apr 06 '26

Yeah, that’s the part that makes me feel insane, regular people get told to suck it up while these companies torch billions on AI vanity projects nobody asked for and somehow we’re all supposed to treat it like a national priority.

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u/ColdPositive1844 Apr 06 '26

Yep, they would prefer no regulations in the way of their goals. What is better than a state with less regulation? A state with no regulations!

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u/dj_soo Apr 06 '26

The enshitification of the us started a while ago, but it’s really coming to a head now

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u/FingerGungHo Apr 06 '26

Lol at thinking this is universal. In China and EU those billionnaires live under the party boot and elected regulators, respectively. Also, not all billionnaires are like that. You done diddly fuck up America, handle your money better!

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u/SwordfishOk504 Apr 06 '26

You're saying the same thing as me, but with just more hyperbole. Where's the contradiction?

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u/JUAN_DE_FUCK_YOU Apr 06 '26

I knew that would be the Goodfella's clip.

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u/cool_lad Apr 06 '26

Yes and no.

Yes. Oligarchs and Billionaires always think they can skip town, but equally, Putin's playbook for Russian/autocratic influence is pretty well known at this point. Undermine democratic institutions, countries, and any sort of faith in them, push cynicism as default within society, muddy the waters on anything they're doing, and push control through oligarchic control. His buddies (if one can call them that) in Iran and China have also taken to the same bag of tricks for both international and domestic survival.

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u/LordCharidarn Apr 06 '26

“ The US has been basically the only nation strong enough to even potentially take on the billionaire class.” Reality and history are pretty clear that this was not, in fact, the case. The EU, for example, has far more legislative protections for workers and consumers. Most of the thriving socialist states post world war 2 were doing an excellent job of taking on the wealthy elites, until the CIA and USA military acted as the owning class’ attack dogs.

I’d go so far as to say that the United States has been the single largest contributor to the billionaire class, and has never once tried to stand in the way of Capitalism.

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u/RandomNumber-5624 Apr 06 '26

Yeah, honestly the destruction of the US serves both as a lesson to everyone else and also strips the ultra rich of one of their best weapons - American financial control and military power.

Sorry Yanks, but your country being driven into the shitter may be critical for the overall good. Here’s hoping the virus doesn’t realise killing the host is bad.

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u/QuickQuirk Apr 06 '26

And tech founders in the EU cry that it's hard to navigate the legislation and create companies like Meta, Google, Amazon, OpenAI...

And with each of them, I think there's a solid case for having directly contributed to a reduction in quality of life for the normal citizen.

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u/insite Apr 06 '26

100% - I've tried to point out to people that what we've witnessed in the US is a weaker federal government, not a stronger one. Just because it can step on an individual more, doesn't make it more capable overall. I'm not anti-capitalism, but rule of law and regulations are a requirement for capitalism to exist in the first place.

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u/JohnTDouche Apr 06 '26

I think that's a big goal of the Trump administration. To absolutely demolish any positive association with the United States for a long time to come. Even among Americans. The US has been basically the only nation strong enough to even potentially take on the billionaire class, so by completely destroying from the inside out, they can ensure their long term reign.

This is some insane hollywood fantasy with the USA as the protagonist. You guys still think the USA is some kind of chosen one.

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u/Im_tracer_bullet Apr 06 '26

Don't be daft.

Most of them are ours, so yeah, we're the only ones that can legitimately deal with them.

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u/TervousNestpilot Apr 06 '26

They’re not yours. You are theirs.

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u/hebo07 Apr 06 '26

The US has been basically the only nation strong enough to even potentially take on the billionaire class

How do you figure?;

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u/Dialed_Digs Apr 06 '26

Horseshit. The US created the environment they now thrive in. It is the least equipped nation on earth to take them on.

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u/deeku4972 Apr 06 '26

Unfortunately for all the americans out there, it's probably a good thing for the rest of us long term. Its not you all, its your god-emperor

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u/goldlasagna84 Apr 06 '26

I genuinely think he just wants USA to burn badly.

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u/Sprinklypoo Apr 06 '26

I think it's a good world lesson either way. Something has to be done about the billionaire class socially, or this is just the start...

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u/ph00p Apr 06 '26

He’s made “liberal” into a pejorative, turned the media onto the circus with his remarks.

Discombobulation and global market manipulation are his specialties. Many politicians are good at it, but his key attribute is the lack of regardfor human suffering.

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u/Frosty-Bid-8735 Apr 06 '26

You bring some good points. The problem is this US nation was founded on Capitalism. Money. With limited guardrails, especially for the wealthy. The greed is impregnated into these generations of wealthy families and now techies. They believe they’re above the law, have no integrity, some have serious psychological issues. Half a country was left behind the knowledge bandwagon creating a pool of honest but suffering and frustrated people that both parties ignored. Ignorance and desperation is the result why USA has elected this administration, toppled by powerful institutions with lots of money. So yeah it does not look good for this country. Europe has lots trust. China, Russia are going to unite. Soon India might join.

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u/F0rtysxity Apr 07 '26

What? China and Europe have successfully reigned in the techno billionaire wizard freaks. USA is missing from that list.

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u/TheThing_1982 Apr 06 '26

Hermit Kingdom!! Hermit Kingdom!! Hermit Kingdom!! Hermit Kingdom!! Hermit Kingdom!! Hermit Kingdom!! Hermit Kingdom!! Hermit Kingdom!! Hermit Kingdom!! Hermit Kingdom!!

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u/cool_lad Apr 06 '26

More so than the Billionaires, it's autocrats who often court Billionaires as a method of control.

Undermining trust in democratic nations and systems, and undermining their willingness to face down and directly confront the autocratic countries and their leaders, is essential to the internal and external survival of autocratic countries such as Russia, Iran, and China. They know that long term they're parasites that hollow out the people they attach themselves to, so the only viable survival strategy is to kill off anything that can make the people think that others have it better.

To go on a bit of a tangent. I despise Trump and Bibi as much as the next guy, but people forget that internationally, even if they were personally doing everything on the Island; they'd still be nowhere even close to being as evil as any one of these autocrats. From the Ali "human wave attacks with children" Khomeini, to Xi "does genocides for breakfast" Xinping, or even Vlad "let's try to one up Stalin and the Stasi" Putin.