Financing seems to be a big obstacle to the putative Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline from China to Russia as yesterday the PRC's bond rating agency gave Gazprom a AAA rating, perhaps as a consolation prize (no PRC financing promised). Risky for PRC lenders as Gazprom's rating was lower pre-2022.

Before we conclude there's a new world order for gas after Russia's Gazprom signed a memo of intent last week with China's CNPC to build the Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline via Mongolia let's look at the details. See my latest Substack post: chinasresourcerisks.substack.com/p/power-of-s...

Thanks to @joeyans.bsky.social for getting past the standard headlines. @keirgiles.bsky.social and I examine the role of India in relations with Russia and China. Despite all the loose talk about a new China-Russia-India axis, there are a lot of complex issues that will prevent this.

Terrific new article by Mariya Omelicheva @warontherocks.bsky.social on the role of a huge number of semi-state forces in Russia’s war against Ukraine: warontherocks.com/2025/08/insi...

I have a GMF piece up on the backstory behind this week's low-content EU-China summit. A "success" that won't feel like one: www.gmfus.org/news/just-sh...

Some intriguing articles in @nytimes.com lately about PRC hacking in Russia and Kremlin distrust of China. For my take on the limits of the partnership see my interview on the Decoding Geopolics podcast with @dompresl.bsky.social youtu.be/-CSNX3bCiU4?...

What do China, Russia, and North Korea think about South Korea's new president? See my laest artcle with @cna Carita Reid thediplomat.com/2025/06/what...

🇷🇺New Episode🇨🇳 Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin’s relationship is growing stronger and it could change global power as we know it. Today in The Bunker, @lizwish.bsky.social joins @chrisjonesprod.bsky.social to unpack what their growing alliance means for the rest of the world ➡️ linktr.ee/bunker_pod

Last week Xi and Putin dropped the "no alliance" formulation. It's also missing from the PRC White Paper on National Security For all the details from the Russian and Chinese documents, see my latest article @thediplomat.com thediplomat.com/2025/05/the-...

Worth scrolling through as his approval rating is in low 50s or below 50 in some red states. www.yahoo.com/news/preside...

In this article for @thediplomat.com I discuss the 150 or so Chinese mercenaries fighting for Russia in Ukraine--how they were recruited, why they go, and what this mean's for China's role in conflict zones. thediplomat.com/2025/05/the-...

Update on USIP

The U.S. House of Representatives voted Thursday to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, a major voter suppression measure that, if it became law, could disenfranchise millions of eligible voters and badly undermine U.S. democracy. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...

Hopefully this extends to their antics at the Wilson Center & other agencies they had no business ransacking. Still waiting for their "fraud" highlights from the Wilson Center. Along with discovering that only 30% of funding was federal, they must have learned that money only paid program staffs.

War hero schools a chickenhawk.

Wired has really stepped up with its DOGE coverage! They’ve earned my subscription many times over.

The American people have risen up and they are PISSED AS HELL. #HandsOff

NEW: The Trump Admin has been "covertly" withholding FEMA funds from Democratic states, seemingly as retaliation for sanctuary laws, a judge ruled. Hawaii is missing $6 million for widlfire aid. Oregon is waiting on $129 million for disaster prevention.

DOD is not ending military education. Our satellite campus of the Command and General Staff College is being cut. We educate ~500 Majors/year. These officers will now go to Fort Leavenworth, meaning those in the NCR will now have to go TDY or move + civilian faculty (including me) are jobless.

BOOM!! Bluesky now has more than 34 MILLION users! Share the good news!! 💙 🦋 bsky-users.theo.io

NEW: Elon Musk's DOGE guys are dismantling the Wilson Center, a key foreign policy research group funded by private money and Congress. Its head, Mark Green, a former GOP Congressman, resigned after DOGE entered this week. Our @nytimes.com story: www.nytimes.com/2025/04/02/u...

Just heard that #PresidentMusk /DOGE fired president and CEO of the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Affairs in DC. I guess they had a problem with the website's call to "support fiercely nonpartisan policy analysis." Will share any confirmed details here www.wilsoncenter.org/leadership

“Waltz has had less sensitive but potentially exploitable information sent to his Gmail, such as his schedule and other work documents…The officials said Waltz would sometimes copy and paste from his schedule into Signal to coordinate meetings and discussions” www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

www.wired.com/story/doge-t... The Doge is after the USIP building

This is extremely bad. NPR - Entire staff at federal agency that funds libraries and museums put on leave - www.npr.org/2025/03/31/n...

NEW: You can now send us your tips via SecureDrop, the most secure and anonymous way to share information or files with us electronically. Used properly, it shields your identity even from us. Here’s how to use it: www.propublica.org/tips

SpaceX, which has had billions of $ in US defense contracts, secretly allows offshore PRC investors, ProPublica says. www.dailykos.com/stories/2025...

Let's unpack the axis of authoritarians, beginning with Russia and Iran.

Israeli officials are furious over the Signal chat leak involving senior Trump administration officials because it included sensitive intelligence Israel provided to the U.S. from a human intelligence source in Yemen.

Until 2025, Henry Ford was the most dramatic case of a globally respected innovator, who through despicable public stands became a globally reviled pariah. But then came Elon Musk. www.yahoo.com/news/elon-mu...

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Wisconsin attorney general sues in attempt to block Elon Musk from handing out $1 million to voters.

This explains a lot about his interest in Wisconsin's Supreme Court. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/26/u...

How *stupid* can these people be, part six thousand: I have zero public-office role, and from the start had all Venmo settings changed to "private." These people are the National Security Advisory (!!!) and the WH Chief of Staff (!!!!!) and did not know to do this. (See also: Signal.)

Teen member of Musk’s Doge staff provided tech support to cybercrime ring, records show www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Poll shows CD 6 Special Election within margin of error search.app/11C81 Shared via the Google App

I went to check on whether the book I wrote about the Navy's first female fliers, "Wings of Gold." was still listed on the Navy's website. I found this. The histories of six pioneering military pilots erased. This is not ok. #navalaviation #womenshistorymonth

Decades Ago, Columbia Refused to Pay Trump $400 million. “Sometimes you have to hold a grudge” by @matthewhaag.bsky.social @katierosman.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/03/21/n...

He’s buying votes again. www.axios.com/2025/03/21/e...

The Pentagon is about to brief Elon Musk on the US military’s plan for a potential war with China. This means that Musk now has access to the country’s most important military secrets.

#Wisconsin April 1st! Please elect Judge Susan Crawford. Do NOT sit this out. If we’ve learned anything from 2024, it’s that we need judges with integrity that follow the law! Elect Susan Crawford to the Wisconsin Supreme Court! #ResistanceUnited #ProudBlue

The good news is that there *are* people meeting the moment. youtu.be/EJxRtjma7lc

Helpful article providing guidance on who may need an additional measles shot (gift article) www.wsj.com/health/welln...

In just published book, Jill Kastner & I examine cases of great powers subverting each other over 2000 years. Our usual reaction to claims about subversion is "been there, done that, you're exaggerating novelty." But US unilateral disarmament in subversion game under Trump is truly unprecedented.

Lauren Hipp @momsrising.org, a Japanese American whose grandfather and his immediate family were incarcerated without cause during WWII, speaks out against the administration's invocation of the Alien Enemies Act to round up and deport immigrants from Venezuela www.momsrising.org/newsroom/inv...