On a different front, Australian media outlets reported on new guidelines urging data centres to back the country’s renewable energy transition. Advocates warn that the enormous amounts of energy and water consumed by AI-driven tech infrastructure pose a significant risk to Australia’s resources and energy security — a concern likely to intensify as the Middle East crisis drives up global energy costs.
The events of March 22 paint a picture of a world under extraordinary strain. The Middle East conflict threatens to become the defining crisis of the decade; infrastructure collapses and acts of sabotage test national resilience in Turkey and Germany; and deadly failures of regulation exact a human toll in India. The coming 48 hours — the window of Trump’s ultimatum — may determine whether the world steps back from a wider conflagration, or lurches further into one.
