The Sofia Globe Monday digest: December 8
The week started with a storm — in the streets and in the sky — the kind of storm that seems less like weather and more like the universe clearing its throat before saying something important. What remains are the echoes of a future still unknown, and the rain politely washing the last leaves of autumn as if preparing the world for its next software update. I keep reminding myself of Vivian Greene’s line: (and I’m paraphrasing) there are those who wait for the storm to pass, and those who simply learn to dance in the rain. So, here’s this week’s digest, delivered with minimal meteorological interference.
The EU decided to fine X.com for not complying with its censorship rules — a bureaucratic manoeuvre that feels a bit like watching someone complain about the mess while using the same broom to sweep more dirt under the carpet. It’s ironic that the EU is using its own X.com ad account to create the illusion of policy virtue, possibly violating the platform’s rules while accusing the platform of violations.
Why does this matter for Bulgaria? Because while we are governed (like it or not) by technocrats and a Brussels agenda written behind doors that definitely weren’t designed to open easily, the tools we rely on are far outside our control. Perhaps it’s time to look beyond Silicon Valley and the high priests of “move fast and break things” — especially when what’s breaking is our national strategy.
Passover is still months away, yet in the spirit of exodus, Apple is experiencing one of its own. Some of its top leaders have quietly packed their wisdom into metaphorical suitcases and departed. It was a long time coming, and yes, Apple is still too big to fail (for now), but one hopes its shareholders finally realise that while Tim was perfect under Jobs, a lack of vision can end even the greatest of companies. Empires collapse not with a bang, but with a vaguely confused product launch. There is much to learn here about leadership change and the dangers of navigating without a clear star to follow.
Meanwhile, dear Jony is probably thinking, “what the actual fuck?” about his relationship with OpenAI after Altman declared a code red. Perhaps this kind of hypergrowth without a sturdy economic model is the exact example Bulgaria should study before adopting the euro. Yes, speed is important — but so is direction. Rapid expansion can be an Achilles’ heel when no one remembers where the map was last placed.
So what can we learn? What is the purpose? And more importantly: where is Bulgaria’s AI in all of this?
In other OpenAI news, Altman is now exploring space and considering direct cooperation with Elon. I could rant at length about their strange gravitational rivalry — two celestial bodies orbiting each other in a soap opera written by physics — but instead: Bulgaria should focus on using its talent to anchor the R in R&D (yes, big R, small D) of space exploration right here at home.
This week Cloudflare reported fending off 416 billion AI bot scraping requests in five months — a number so large it feels like it should come with its own theme music. Again, with some of Europe’s most talented tech professionals, Bulgaria must take the lead and eliminate its dependency on US companies for critical digital infrastructure.
Speaking of infrastructure, I listened to Nvidia’s CEO explain that data centres take about three years to build in the US, while in China “they can build a hospital in a weekend”. At this point it’s obvious that the race to monetise data is not a jog but a full-speed sprint down the data-centre highway.
So how do we cut the bureaucratic nonsense and speed things up? Bulgaria can act fast when needed — and it is needed now more than ever. To do that, we must think like Amazon (the company, not the rainforest), not like Brussels.
In other Nvidia news, Huang says the NVLink Spine moves more data than the entire internet: 130 TB/s across 5000 cables — a number that makes even physics pause for a moment. And let’s not forget that Bulgaria already has one of the best internet infrastructures in the world… so…
Moving on. Germany has created a special-forces police unit to combat drones. This reminds me of the old tale of the US and Russia: the US poured resources into developing a plane to intercept Russian aircraft before they reached American airspace, while Russia was busy inventing ICBMs. Bulgaria should look beyond drones. I’m not saying “think outside the box”; I’m saying rethink the entire box factory.
In 1999, Netflix rejected a $12M offer from Bezos. Blockbuster laughed them out of the room when Netflix offered to sell for $50M. Now, in 2025, Netflix is the Microsoft of entertainment. With all respect, Netflix is a beautiful case study in growth cannibalism. Taking over (pending final rulings) HBO will create a monster whose creative output may not benefit anyone — and Paramount owning HBO doesn’t exactly guarantee salvation.
There are two lessons here. First, HBO’s downfall is HBO’s own bad management — that’s the story. Regardless of what happens next, history will remember this as the HBO moment, just like Kodak and Nokia.
The second lesson runs deeper. Netflix’s CEO once said: “We need to become HBO before HBO becomes us.”
So who does Bulgaria need to become — before they become us?
And finally, Trump denied South Africa the right to participate in next year’s G20 summit in Miami, opening the door for Poland to join the club of the world’s largest economies.
So, let’s think long, think smart, and aim to join the G20 ourselves within the next decade.
COLLISION ZONES
The Velocity of Physics vs. The Velocity of Paperwork
Jensen Huang’s revelation that China builds infrastructure in a weekend while the West takes three years is the ultimate collision of this decade. It is a crash between Exponential Tech and Linear Bureaucracy. The EU (and by extension, Bulgaria) is trying to regulate data that moves at 130 TB/s with legislation that moves at the speed of a fax machine. The Takeaway: Bulgaria cannot win on size, but it can win on friction. We must declare a “Red Tape Amnesty” for digital infrastructure. If you are building a data center or an R&D hub, the permit should take days, not years. We need to be the “weekend hospital” builders of the Balkans, not the three-year waiting list.
The Platform vs. The Product
The Netflix acquisition of HBO is a violent lesson in value capture. HBO had the best product (content), but Netflix owned the distribution (the platform). In the digital economy, the platform eventually eats the product. This collision is now happening to nations. Countries that just “produce talent” (like Bulgaria) are the Product; countries that control the ecosystem are the Platform. The Takeaway: We need to stop congratulating ourselves on “exporting talent.” That’s just bleeding. We need to become the platform where that talent stays to build the next Netflix, rather than leaving to work for the current one.
The Club vs. The Queue
Trump swapping South Africa for Poland in the G20 is a brutal reminder that geopolitics is not a charity; it’s a meritocracy of power. The collision here is between Legacy Status and Current Relevance. South Africa relied on history; Poland relied on economic aggression. The Takeaway: Bulgaria is currently standing in the queue, hoping the bouncer notices we are “well-behaved”. Screw being well-behaved. We need to be economically indispensable. The goal isn’t to be liked by Brussels; the goal is to be necessary to the G20.
THE BOTTOM LINE
This week was a masterclass in the difference between Motion and Direction.
Apple has motion (executives leaving), but no direction. The EU has motion (fining X), but no direction. Nvidia and Netflix? They have both.
Bulgaria is currently suffering from the illusion that “following the rules” is a strategy. It is not. It is merely a slow path to becoming Nokia—technically competent, historically respected, and completely irrelevant.
The lesson from the Netflix-HBO slaughter is simple: You either innovate enough to buy your competitors, or you stay stagnant long enough to become their content library.
Poland just kicked down the door to the G20. China is building the future over the weekend. And we are still waiting for the storm to pass.
Stop waiting. Become the storm.
