Europe

Just days after Toyota became the latest investor in Uber, in hopes of boosting car lease transactions, moments ago FT reported that Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, is investing $3.5 billion in the ride-sharing company. This would be the largest single investment ever made in a private company. As the FT notes, this brings Uber's cash holding to more than $11billion at a time when the company is aggressively expanding in nearly 70 countries worldwide. 

Next months NATO summit in Poland is likely to enter the history books as the event where cyberspace was officially declared an operational warzone, according to a German official.

Amid rising social unrest as yet another bailout is negotiated to pass-through Greek government hands to the banks, this week brought some potentially good news for the Greek economy.

Ride-hailing services such as Uber and Didi are a deflationary, VC-funded blessing and convenience to consumers (and lately, to Goldman Sachs). But to cab drivers, the services provided by the Ubers and Didis of the world are a mortal threat: in the past we have seen troubling images from many corners around the world, most notably Europe, when the taxi industry, threatened by the new service, take arms - in some cases literally - against ride-hailing apps.

Max Boot offers some typically wrongheaded thoughts on America’s foreign wars. He alleges that the U.S. has a habit of losing “won” wars:

What do all these betrayals of trust have in common? A failure by the American population and politicians to sustain a long-term commitment that would build on battlefield gains [bold mine-DL].