Ben

A Wall Street Journal headline, astounding in its credulous stupidity, reading, "Putin Tells U.S. He’ll Halt War in Exchange for Eastern Ukraine President Trump said he would meet with Putin next week in Alaska to discuss ending the war."

Hitler tells Neville Chamberlain he'll halt war in exchange for the Sudetenland.

And the rest of Czechoslovakia. And Danzig. And the rest of Poland. And Denmark. And the Low Countries. And Northern France. And...

During each Trump term, he'd attempt a congressional insurrection, thru legal or illegal means. Now that's a tradition.

Xi toughens up on Trump, it seems leading to the latter lashing out at Intel. TACO

China’s economic model is rotting from inside, in that sense much similar to USSR’s eventual decline.

YouTube video by News 3 Las Vegas Las Vegas tourism slumps: Millions fewer visitors, local fanbase shrinks

The Trump Slump starts. youtube.com/watch?v=7bUt...

China is apparently, and probably correctly, betting that Trump will TACO on tariffs as prices will certainly go up in the U.S. Besides, punishing India for importing Russian oil while China does the same is such gift to the latter.

Gerrymandering is really bad for representative democracy. Voters should choose politicians, not the other way around. Gerrymanders mean less choice, less representation, less accountability for politicians – and more polarization. 1/6

Trump is the most corrupt president in history. Lest we forget, Qatar gave him a jet… and the taxpayer is about to spend almost $1 billion to fit it for AF1 service.

AND HE TAKES THE JET WITH HIM WHEN HE LEAVES OFFICE.

Staggering corruption from a scumbag of a president

What fantastic opportunity for China to take over as leader in mRNA research.

Am afraid China will soon need a war to prop up its economy.

Hi, former Foreign Service Officer here

The Secretary of State might be interested to learn that visa requirements and terms are generally reciprocal. We do it to them, they do it to us.

Expect more social unrests in China as the gov coffer runs dry to pop up industrial policies (ie subsidies) or control. The export driven economy is what fueled the industrial policies, not the other way round.

这期太喜欢了，吴国光老师聊政治八卦都能聊得这么高级，这么有趣。他说的斯大林逻辑是什么意思？“两线制”是怎么回事？有多大可能？这一期我是大涨知识了，也希望听众们认真听一听，比那些听床师不知高出多少个段位

Live Updates: After a Weak Jobs Report, Trump Says He’s Firing That Agency’s Commissioner

Trump 101: Don’t bring the King bad news, especially if it’s true, unless you’re tired of having your head attached to your body

www.nytimes.com/live/2025/07...

Black is white.

Trump’s appointees are all competing for the Nobel Prize in kissing ass.

Cape of Good Hope

How spy agencies are experimenting with the newest AI models America has better technology. But will China adopt it more quickly?

I wrote this week on the way that intelligence services are increasingly experimenting with frontier labs’ AI models—though still too slowly and conservatively, according to critics—and how that might compare with Chinese agencies and institutions. www.economist.com/internationa...

This kind of thing was probably why Pam Bondi’s brother, a lawyer, ran for the president of the DC Bar this year, before getting humiliated by a 9:1 defeat.

Donald Trump’s unprecedented attack on Brazil’s judiciary He has placed sanctions on the judge leading the prosecution of Jair Bolsonaro, his ideological ally

Flushing America’s moral authority down the toilet would be a great gift to China in the latter’s rallying the “global south” in its conflict with the west.
economist.com/the-americas...
from The Economist

Half way into this inspiring book. Any book talk coming up around NYC?

As an anti-Japan movie about the Nanjing massacre tops the box office in China again, expect another round of violence towards the Japanese in the country. variety.com/2025/film/ne...

China struggles to break its addiction to manufacturing Local governments are steering investment into new factories, adding to overcapacity and eroding profit margins

1/5
This very good FT article on China's inability stop expanding its already-excess reliance on manufacturing makes what I think are two especially important points.

www.ft.com/content/f797... via @ft

The Achilles heel of the Communist Party, am afraid, is that about all the best people want to leave China.

Timely report. Just heard your voice on WNYC radio around New York.

Operation Midnight Gabbard Tulsi Gabbard has been on the outs with Trump ever since their clash over Iran. But through the conspiracy alchemy of Epstein and Russiagate, she’s seizing her chance to come in from the cold.

Trump has urged his supporters to move on from Epstein, who’s been “dead for a long time.” But in Trump’s mind, it seems, Russiagate will live forever.

My latest.

puck.news/tulsis-trump...