Since Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Putin has had 3 asks of Xi: military & political support for war, a deal on Power of Siberia 2, & unrestricted access to Chinese financial markets. In the last 10 days, he’s gotten close to clinching latter two on.ft.com/3JJUqBD

Kazakhstan's foreign minister Murat Nurtleu detained alongside Dagestani-Kazakh businessman Gadzhi Gadzhiev orda.kz/zaderzhany-m... unclear if related but Gadzheiv was accused of involvement in journalist Aydos Sadykov's assassination in Ukraine last year rsf.org/en/journalis...

Rare to hear an EU official speak as candidly as Weyand here “From the Commission’s perspective this was a strategic trade-off, not an economic policy ideal solution" “There was a risk that the USA, in return, would question the security partnership. That is the realpolitik of the turning point"

⚡️Ukraine hits Russian cruise missile carrier near occupied Crimea, intelligence claims. Ukrainian military intelligence (HUR) hit a Russian Buyan-M-class small missile ship, a carrier of Kalibr cruise missiles, near Russian-occupied Crimea in the Azov Sea on Aug. 28, HUR reported.

The EU Delegation in Kyiv was damaged by today’s Russian strikes on civilian areas. I strongly condemn these brutal attacks, a clear sign that Russia rejects peace & chooses terror. Our full solidarity goes to EU staff, their families, & all Ukrainians enduring this aggression.

China’s first confirmed purchase of LNG from Russia’s U.S.-sanctioned Arctic 2 LNG site shows Trump’s secondary sanctions threat is weakening in the face of his policy flip-flopping gcaptain.com/russias-arct...

Doggo enjoying the Holland Park Opera’s practice sessions

"In June, 81% of 🇨🇦 exports qualified as USMCA-compliant, up from 56% month before. 🇲🇽 saw a similar move, with 77% of shipments clearing the bar versus just 42% in May. .. helped blunt ... tariffs that technically set rates at 35% for Canada and 25% for Mexco." www.tradingview.com/news/gurufoc...

Almost every year I’ve attended, I’ve noticed at least 2/3rds of all artists exhibiting at the Venice Biennale are based in Berlin

Europe and Ukraine have to change their approach towards Trump or risk ceding more ground to Russia. Read more by @maxhess.bsky.social. buff.ly/0Mchs9j

Idk what’s crazier, the CIA-KGB combined mortgage financing or the $40k upper east side two bedroom apartment

Trump’s envoy - who has infamously & stupidly relied on the Kremlin’s translators for meetings with Putin - reportedly misunderstood Putin who wasn’t offering Russian withdrawals from Kherson and Zaporizhzhia but restating his maximalist demands. www.bild.de/politik/ausl...

If Trump agrees to this stupidity, it will be a devastating mistake. There is a zero percent chance Putin would follow through with the second phase.

A large number of these investigations center on the construction of defensive fortifications in Russian regions bordering Ukraine.

Xi set to invite Trump & Putin to meet in Beijing on September 3rd. Incidentally thats deadline day for Trump's 50 day threat for enacting 50% secondary tariff against Russia if no Ukraine deal. My previous max 5% chance Trump would follow through fast approaching 0% www.thetimes.com/world/asia/a...

A new post from me on emerging structures of financing international litigation - and - in my opinion - what works, and what doesn't conflictandcredit.substack.com/p/how-not-to...

The big thing to watch for in Trump’s demand for new waiver authority in the Russia sanctions bill working its way through Congress is if he looks for changes to how CAATSA protected previous sanctions from being withdrawn without Congress’ support www.politico.com/news/2025/07...

Brownback’s “great Kansas tax cut experiment” in 2012 was a complete fiasco, ultimately overridden (over his veto) by the Republican legislature. Yet it did not lead to a widespread condemnation of the impossibility of conservative governance as such./2 en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_...

The 1% decrease in Libya’s threatened tariff rate is the funniest example of how nonsensical Trump’s tariff numbers are. Libya is divided by two rival governments & has no real trade negotiations with the US. 99% of Libyan exports to the US is crude oil, which is tariff exempt.

Only in Tbilisi

Konstantin Strukov was reportedly preparing to fly to Turkey aboard his private $50 million Bombardier jet when federal aviation authorities halted his departure.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence claims control of Dachne in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast (southwest of Pokrovsk in Donetsk Oblast). The first town in the oblast Russian forces claim to have occupied t.me/kontext_chan...

Chancellor Merz: Russia is already attacking us today. The infrastructure, we have attacks, arson attacks, what has also happened in barracks here in recent days. Almost all trails lead to Russia.

Janan Ganesh continues to be an incredibly insipid stain on the best newspaper out there www.ft.com/content/07c6...

5 years of gardening and dog raising hobbies led to this photo

Why Countries Are Suddenly Broadcasting Their Spies’ Exploits www.wsj.com/world/why-co...

Live from John Bolton’s bedroom:

1/3 FT: "The era of Bund scarcity was “definitely over”, said a senior German official, as the Eurozone’s safest borrower increases sales of its benchmark debt to fund a defence and infrastructure spending spree." www.ft.com/content/9765...

Death toll from yesterday's (massive) Russian attack on Kyiv has risen to 21, per Ukrainian emergency officials, who are continuing to pull bodies from rubble of destroyed apartment block; 134 wounded/injured. t.co/Z50IAEOpOX

No statement and a failure to agree to increase pressure on Russia: At the G7 summit, Trump disappointed allies by saying that US sanctions cost a lot of money raising questioning whether Trump can be trusted to put further pressure on Russia. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Real duality of reality vibes from the FT this weekend

Since 2022 Central and Eastern Europe has undergone a fundamental shift away from reliance on Russian gas. Will it last? Join @maxhess.bsky.social‬, Sergey Vakulenko and me tomorrow for a Carnegie Europe webinar to discuss these issues. It will be insightful! carnegieendowment.org/events/2025/...

The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace will host a webinar on my report 'How Eastern Europe Overhauled Its Natural Gas Market' next Thursday June 5th at 17:00 CET (11AM New York Time, 4PM UK Time). Join us by registering at the link below! carnegieendowment.org/events/2025/...

Things you see in west london …

Terrible news that @willneal.bsky.social has been barred entry to Georgia, his home, because of his tireless reporting on money and power. The Georgian authorities should reverse themselves immediately. rsf.org/en/between-h...

The Caucasus: where your major world historical geopolitical conflict plays second fiddle to arguments over who lived on one side of one particular valley in 1897 according to the last Russian imperial census

Just wrote an article about a French naturalist, botanist, orientalist, spy, and anti-slavery advocate who was employed by the Russian Empire to introduce new cultivation techniques to Georgia and Azerbaijan. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph-...

A most scholastic canine

Congressional Bill that would significantly increase sanctions on Ivanishvili-led Georgian Dream government in Georgia passes the House, quite surprised how strong vote was though I expect Senate will sit on it cohen.house.gov/media-center...

After the Kremlin seizes $3billion+ from Euroclear & ClearStream stuck in Russia, the Belgian and Luxembourg-based clearing houses are seizing equivalent Russian funds (but not RU central bank assets reportedly) to pay Western investors with assets trapped in Russia www.reuters.com/business/fin...

Finally in my possession, two nearly 100 year old copies of Georgian children’s magazine ‘Nakaduli’ (The Brook). I look forward to spending the next 100 years translating, particularly the songs! (Thanks to @aaron-schwa.bsky.social for alerting me to their sale!)

Yesterday, I finished Economic War by @maxhess.bsky.social As someone who is less than knowledgeable about economics, I found the book insightful and easy to understand. I also appreciated how he illustrated 🇷🇺 use of economic leverage against 🇺🇦 pre-2014.

Putin wants Ukraine war veterans to be "new Russian elite" and take places in executive and legislature. Yet the "old elites" doesn't want them near good seats. And de-facto manipulates Putin showing him "good numbers on paper" while sidelining veterans ridl.io/municipal-pe...

After Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Eastern Europe successfully ended its dependence on Russian natural gas. To ensure the region's energy security, the EU must continue to diversify its supplies & invest in LNG infrastructure, says @maxhess.bsky.social. carnegieendowment.org/research/202...

Congressional Research Service - in a mealmouthy way designed to avoid partisan tensions - says it would be okay for Treasury to issue premium / consol bonds to avoid debt ceiling issue. (CRS notes do not carry any legal authority FWIW) www.congress.gov/crs-product/...

The updated edition of Economic War by @maxhess.bsky.social is out in paperback! ‘Examines how Russia’s response to sanctions following the first invasion of Ukraine in 2014...set the stage for [the current] conflict.’@financialtimes.com, a ‘book to read’ 25% off, code HESS25➡️ tinyurl.com/5n8zp6ju

Things that also happened at the end of the Roman Empire for $100 please

The CHIPS Act is alive... In South Korea. As a share of GDP, their package is 22 times larger than what even Biden pledged. South Korea unveils $23 billion support package for chips amid US tariff uncertainty. www.reuters.com/technology/s...

The first spotting of the new paperback edition of ‘Economic War: Ukraine and the Global Conflict between Russia and the West’ in bookshops! Thanks to Pippa Crawford

Now is the moment for a multilateral defence bank on.ft.com/44pLMAa