What technology is not "dual-use"?

Japan should note while Einstein was proficient in English, there's no record he was tested for it, and he naturalized as citizen in 1940. He preferred to speak German, socialized w other immigrants, and famously died speaking German to a nurse who didn't understand him www.asahi.com/ajw/articles...

TACO has to be the word of the year

The hero bystander at the Bondi Beach attack is a Syrian immigrant named Ahmed al Ahmed from the city of Idlib. Muslim, shop owner, and father of two. He lives in Sydney, where he is a naturalized citizen. His parents, who recently arrived as refugees, said he once served in the police.

1/8 It's hard to find anything good in the November economic data for China, just as it is hard to find anything new to say. All the important indicators continue to weaken, as they have throughout the year, in some cases even decelerating further. english.news.cn/20251215/a59...

“Truth, though powerless and always defeated in a head-on clash with the powers that be, possesses a strength of its own: whatever those in power may contrive, they are unable to discover or invent a viable substitute for it.” - Hannah Arendt www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

At least one Covid-traumatized group has acted on it -- After 2022, the Chinese entrepreneurs and investors class has radically diversified their wealth, business, and passports for the family away from China, which in part explains the country's worsening domestic economic slump.

Sad to ask but why would any artist still perform at the Kennedy Center?

Flattery was never going to deliver security guarantees for Ukraine.

Reading up in the aftermath of the fall of Pax Romana would be useful today.

American soldiers killed by China's AI powered weapons trained on advanced Nvidia chips will have Trump to thank.

Music to the ear and a shot in the arm for Beijing.

The photo of the explosion of USS Shaw's forward magazine is one of the most iconic images from the attack on Pearl Harbor that occurred #OTD in 1941. Despite heavy damage, the Shaw was repaired by 1942 and served in the Pacific for the rest of the war, earning 11 battle stars. #PearlHarbor #WWII

The U.S. National Security Strategy might have become outdated within a week of its release.

Back in January, I dug into Xiaohongshu's party links: they're surprisingly brazen about it. “When recruiting personnel, the principle of giving priority to Party members is implemented."

This should go on the next banner overlooking Schuman.

If the Fourteenth Amendment isn’t real then Section 3 isn’t real either and the justices are suddenly just people in funny clothes.

National Parks are now free on Trump's birthday, but not on MLK Jr. Day or Juneteenth

America lost its mind bringing Trump back to the WH. Now it might lose part of what it is.

Cannot make the shit up

Really appreciate the clarity of the president saying black people are ruining the country and this entire room of groveling empty suits saying nothing bsky.app/profile/just...

Trump has issued 1500+ pardons and counting…a who’s who of drug kingpins, crypto scammers, violent insurrectionists, terrorism financiers & corrupt politicians. In Trump’s oligarchy, the rich and powerful can pay their way to reside above the law.

When it comes to this, the Americans will surely sue for peace, right?

The Trump admin has been quietly pressuring Europe to not seize the Russian billions for Ukraine. He fully intends to give it back to Russia and likely will find a way to profit himself. Shame on America, and shame on Europe

Open-source with Chinese characteristics.

By staring down and beating Trump in the trade war, China inadvertently showed its neighbors, especially Japan, how to deal with a bully.

The one thing Donald Trump has always and will always be afraid of is the truth. And right now, he’s scared.

"Beijing routinely lashes out at Tokyo. This time the fury is rooted in something more dangerous: China’s growing anxiety that one of its bedrock goals — isolating Taiwan and forcing it to submit to unification on China's terms — is slipping away" www.nytimes.com/2025/12/02/o...

While "peace" negotiations continue, remember that Russia could simply stop the war at any time.

what a world.

An excellent article by a Tokyo Univ professor, primarily to the Japanese audience, on the new wave of Chinese wrath towards Japan. Web page translation would be of okay quality.

Looks like Trump and Hegseth might be preparing to throw the military under the bus on the second strike. This is why you don’t execute illegal orders. Because you are responsible

By supplying Putin with endless number of drones, Xi is proving the concept of Chinese industrial superiority over the resolve of the west.

Beijing must be looking at it and grinding its teeth -- If only Taiwan could be accused of being a source of drug imports, rather than an inspiration of liberal democracy.

PRC state media questioning whether Okinawa belongs to Japan. One thing that Takaichi did was to get the PRC to publicly reveal that it lusts after Okinawa as well. Everyone out here knows it, of course.

Time to ask: In whose interests is American foreign policy being conducted?

Could also be that the number of affluent travelers going thru Pudong is absolutely down. Either way, not good omen for the Chinese economy.

1/14 This very good Robin Harding article points out that the purpose of trade should be the exchange of goods, and not the mercantilist accumulation of assets abroad. www.ft.com/content/f294...

There is never any daylight between the positions of Russia and JD Vance.

Guess which of these two is threatening to recall the other to active Navy duty, and to be prosecuted under military law for urging troops to disobey illegal orders.

Suburban middle school joke just heard — Why don’t the Chinese believe in Santa Claus? Because all toys are made there.

At least one insurrectionist goes to jail www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/w...

I stand with Mark Kelly.

Today’s America resonates with China ~2013-2018 when independent institutions disappeared one after another, but there was still money to be made, and much naive optimism remained… before Xi declared permanent chairmanship, Hong Kong got murdered, and the remaining nonconformists got rounded up.

JD Vance and Peter Thiel are running a sustained operation out of the White House designed to acquire Greenland, either voluntarily or by force. Thiel has laid out plans for what he intends to do with the island nation in past writings. It doesn't entail the consent of the Greenlanders for anything.

President Zelensky: "We are facing one of the most dangerous periods in Ukrainian history, a choice between losing our dignity and freedom and losing US support. We choose dignity. My answer is my oath of office. I did not betray Ukraine in Feb 2022 and we won’t betray in now."

This is not a peace plan. It is a proposal that weakens Ukraine and divides America from Europe, preparing the way for a larger war in the future. In the meantime, it benefits unnamed Russian and American investors, at the expense of everyone else. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...

America abandoning its leadership of the free world, even undermining the latter by teaming up with Russia, is powerful signal for China to do what it wants.

Behind this important reversal is a member of the Coast Guard who saw what was happening and had the courage to leak it to the press. That person deserves serious praise.