alina

And they still didn't say who the administrator of DOGE was

If you mean that pre-22 EU should have trusted itself more re Russia and now should feel a bit more confident given re-armament then I'd agree on the first part.

100% agree on the second part. Not being much more annoyed with US is the true EU achilles heel.

Putin doesn't have a theory of victory.

Not to mention that Ukraine did have a theory of peace/security when, under US pressure and with US encouragement signed the Budapest memorandum.

So many lazy uses of 'theory of victory' in relation to Ukraine, specifically Ukraine not having one.

Especially irksome when it comes from US folks...I mean how did your theory of victory work out for you in Vietnam, Afghanistan, Irak, Syria.

And what's the theory of victory in Venezuela?

Michael nicely rounding up his earlier article with the kremlinology of the Trumpian court

substack.com/@snyder/note...

Yeah, sure, let's compare what you can do in a country of 0.6 mil (Montenegro) to what you can do in a country of say 19-20mil or even 6.4 mil.

Brexiteers also banked on Singapore on Thames cause you can just take the model from country of 6 mil and apply it to country of 68 mil

Ep 249: Mick Ryan on the Ukrainian Way of War Podcast Episode · School of War · 11/18/2025 · 50m

In my recent conversation with @AaronBMacLean on the School of War podcast, we discussed the current state of the #Ukraine war, including Russian adaptation, war strategy and many other aspects of the conflict.

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...

How to Use Russia’s Frozen Assets The December European Council could bring a final decision regarding the use of Russia’s immobilized reserves to help close Ukraine’s 2026–27 financing gap. Ideally, the chosen framework would also d…

And by frozen assets Brad Setser means the entire €260bn pot 👇

www.cfr.org/article/how-...

This is the way

Not true if you look at GDP PER CAPITA

1990 Germany ~70x China
2024 Germany ~4.2x China

Even PPP GDP per capita in 2024 Germany is still ~2.6x China

The overall point of China racing ahead and Germany self-harming still holds, obvs

Who is Favored to Win the House? Latest 2026 Congressional Ballot Polls (Gift Article) Track the latest congressional ballot surveys that ask who Americans plan to vote for in the 2026 midterm election.

Starting today, the NYT will have a tracker for the generic ballot.

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

This is just a framework agreement but if things happen as in the agreement this is huge!

Saudis can move money, land, permits, subsidies in an instant.

Yet another depressing read from European POV

Rapid response to BMJ investigation: Thousands of NHS doctors are trapped in insecure “gig economy” contracts

‘Once a doctor has been employed in the same specialty by the same trust for more than two years, they should be moved to a nationally negotiated SAS contract.’

👉 Read our rapid response to a @bmj.com investigation revealing thousands of LEDs are trapped in insecure contracts: ow.ly/m9sm50XwQot

This is of course the London black cabs Knowledge test.

At the exact opposite end of Waymo & co.

It can't be hacked, you don't need GPS or updates, it's all in the cabbie's mind

Good to see a few things:

*mature kit delivery 2-3 years from order (this applies for ex to Gripen E)
* emphasis on IAMD, long range strike capability & ISR will help a lot even those Gripens that Ukraine will get
* interesting on what they intend to use the 1.5% civ-mil money for

Good episode on rare earths. Some imp points:

* China can both withhold supply & flood market to crash prices & scare off non-Chinese investment
*EU risks swapping China-dependency for US-dependency if it doesn't fund properly sovereign mid-stream
*China-risk still there, just now managed choke

Besides US not sure anymore even about meaning Art 5 NATO and that's in treaty and has history, etc. According to commander in chief, Art 5 NATO is whatever he thinks it is on the day that you ask.

Russians added mirror thing as insult on top of injury.

So we're into games of smoke and mirrors

SOUTHCOM is curbing holiday leave as it prepares for potential land strikes in Venezuela within the next 10–14 days, NewsNation reports.

Opinion | We’re Seeing What a No-Immigration Economy Looks Like

Wendy Edelberg, former chief economist for the Congressional
budget Office, explains why keeping immigrants out of the US will not create a booming labor market for those already here. On the contrary, she writes, “making America less hospitable to immigrants will eventually make America poorer.”

A month of Elon Musk on X: Conspiracy theories, fringe politics and self-promotion An NBC News analysis of one month of Musk’s social media posts shows what’s been on his mind, including a broad cross-section of fringe political topics.

It's a... um... very rich text. I looked at 1,716 posts on X over a month, with big assists from @brunaahorvath.bsky.social and @bengoggin.bsky.social. Musk posted on average 55 times a day, including replies, RTs, etc.

I hope you'll give it a read. www.nbcnews.com/tech/elon-mu...

Also try to imagine where things have been if US level of support in the last 3 months of 2024 was there before as well and also not tying Ukraine's hands on what it can use where.

No, they are not good value for recruiting and retaining. And not been for at least 20y

One of my favourite charts from this year's Performance Tracker

Each dot shows a trust's bed occupancy in a given month

What's notable is how little variation there is across the country and across time

Go into any hospital in any month and you will find almost every bed is occupied

What OpenAI Did When ChatGPT Users Lost Touch With Reality

For the last few months, we've been talking to current and former employees of OpenAI to understand what went wrong with ChatGPT this year and how the company is fixing it. Here's the story: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/23/t...

Fractures.

I suggest Cameron retains his cohost's services if he is to prevail against the other 9 people running for this seat.

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/19/n...

www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...

It'd be more like a Benny Hill skit if it didn't have such big implications.
Trump decline and the viziers running amok

French general sparks uproar with warning of ‘losing children’ in potential Russia conflict Hard-liners on both ends of the French political spectrum hit back at what they framed as an alarmist take from the top officer.

'Uproar' meaning the screeches of the ostriches, as one MP calls them: Melenchon for LFI and the far right

www.politico.eu/article/top-...

So productive all the hours spend 'discussing' Russian fantasy fiction. With help with from a useful idiot (Witkoff).

Michael with the correct take from the beginning