Marcus Brauchli

The “Department of War” Is Designed to Fight American Citizens How to resolve the tension between “lethal war-fighting warriors” and “no more wars” isolationism.

Excellent piece on nostalgia as the driving force of the retro-branded Department of War. For aficianados of Tuchman: "Le pantalon rouge c'est la France!"
www.thebulwark.com/p/the-depart...

Robert B. Barnett, Washington Master of the Book World Megadeal, Dies at 79

A giant of Washington and politics, in addition to being a friend and counselor at critical moments in my life. RIP, Bob. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/26/b...

Tess Johnston, Diplomat Who Helped Preserve ‘Old Shanghai,’ Dies at 93

A remarkable life. Tess would drive around 1990s Shanghai in an American car with diplomatic plates, calling streets, parks and buildings by the names they bore when they were built in the International Settlement days.
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/24/w...

Jerome Cohen, the First American to Practice Law in China, Dies at 95 An expert on China—and a sometime critic—Cohen defended companies and dissidents.

A giant of law, human rights and decency, who also dedicated his life to China. So much respect and admiration for him. www.wsj.com/world/china/...

Wasn't this how these shows used to be? Not that it's better for viewers, but not that it's not, either.

AI firm Anthropic reaches landmark $1.5B copyright deal with book authors The company behind the chatbot Claude avoided trial over claims it improperly downloaded millions of books.

The math for AI companies should be simple: whatever you spend on data centers or electricity you should be prepared to spend on content IP. It's no less essential, and over time may prove a differentiator if IP rights are upheld. www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

Your point about X and, more important, Substack is exactly right. They accrue power (and data) for themselves. Who they host, they are.

Media Freedom Coalition Statement on Foreign Media Access to Gaza - Media Freedom Coalition In light of the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, we, the undersigned members of the Media Freedom Coalition, urge Israel to allow immediate independent foreign media access and protection f...

Overdue and welcome statement demanding Israel allow journalists access to Gaza and protect them while they do their work. The willingness to face real scrutiny and take criticism is what differentiates democracies from authoritarian states.
mediafreedomcoalition.org/joint-statem...

Israeli army unit tasked with linking Gaza journalists to Hamas Treating the media as a battlefield, a secretive intelligence squad scoured Gaza for material to bolster Israeli hasbara — including questionable claims that would justify the killing of Palestinian r...

972 Magazine continues doing impressive journalism that is likely to make the government where it operates unhappy. Worth reading.

www.972mag.com/israel-gaza-...

Coming tension? Social media prizes virality over veracity. AI's business model is different: it promises factuality. These are separate universes, even with some common ownership.

YouTube video by Business Explains The World What 'Made In America' ACTUALLY Looks Like

Love this well-produced explainer video from @kyla.bsky.social and Dynamo. I'd recommend Howard Lutnick watch it. youtu.be/O5ba2hf_C3s?...

Interesting gambit by Washington Post, with a ticker of stories from other sources across bottom of the homepage. Is this an A/B test?

The U.S. Marches Toward State Capitalism With American Characteristics President Trump is imitating the Chinese Communist Party by extending political control ever deeper into the economy.

Another similarity: both countries are run by leaders with no track record of success in business.

www.wsj.com/economy/the-...

I'm a believer in this strategy. We tried aggregation of headlines from other sources when we launched PostPolitics, PostLocal, PostSports and PostOpinions 15 years ago. One-stop-shopping home pages on our core areas hit resistance from both newsroom and business-side, unfortunately.

Interesting gambit by Washington Post, with a ticker of stories from other sources across bottom of the homepage. Is this an A/B test?

Trump one-ups Clinton's wag-the-dog moment with a classic, "look over here!" distraction strategy. No more thinking about Epstein in D.C.

New chatbot on Trump’s Truth Social platform keeps contradicting him An “answer engine” on Trump’s social media site says the 2020 election wasn’t stolen, tariffs aren’t boosting the stock market and Barack Obama is seen favorably.

It's an obvious point but unlike social media platforms like Meta, which value engagement over factuality, AI platforms should value accuracy and factuality. www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

With Tom Lehrer's passing, I suppose this is a moment to share the story of the prank he played on the National Security Agency, and how it went undiscovered for nearly 60 years.

Tom Lehrer, Musical Satirist With a Dark Streak, Dies at 97

One of the greatest political satirists of our lives. Listen to his songs.
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/27/a...

Japan, after 101 tough days, learns a hard lesson about U.S. alliance Japan thought it had a special relationship with the U.S. Now, Tokyo is finding that its security alliance counts for little as it struggles to cut a trade deal.

Nothing surprising about the new US stance and yet it is shockingly short sighted.
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...

A Syrian Death Factory Gives Up Its Secrets Under the Assad regime, Saydnaya prison became a mass-killing machine; ‘a symbol of shame for the whole world.’

This powerful account of the Assad regime's systematic killing of opponents is essential reading. Human rights, democracy and justice matter. www.wsj.com/world/middle...

Opinion | Trump’s Lawfare Against the Free Press He suggests prosecuting CNN, while pressuring a settlement out of CBS.

Exactly. www.wsj.com/opinion/dona...

Worth reading.

Explainer | How dependent is America’s arsenal on China’s critical mineral supply? Beijing has leveraged its dominance in critical mineral production and refining as a key negotiating point in trade wars.

Key fact as the U.S. again makes noises about tariffs: China accounts for around 48 per cent of the world’s mined antimony, controls 98.8 per cent of refined gallium production, and is responsible for 59.2 per cent of refined germanium output.

If like to see a graphic that depicts in some way the cascading economic benefit of refugee scientists from WWII--the companies, profits and numbers they have employed or do employ today.

Trump’s Assault on Harvard Is an Astonishing Act of National Self-Sabotage The revocation of Harvard’s ability to certify visas will lead to a mass exodus of talent.

The truth about all revolutionary movements: "You’re not running the revolution, the revolution is running you.”

Trump’s IRS Pick Defends His Record Promoting Tax Breaks At Billy Long’s confirmation hearing, one Democratic senator said his actions appeared corrupt.

In other tax news, there was a time in American politics when the problematic past of this nominee for the IRS's top job would have been a front-page scandal for days. Now it barely rises above the din. www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

HK's independent news sector faces simultaneous tax audits, demands Hong Kong's independent news sector, including companies, staff and family members, are facing simultaneous tax audits and backdated demands, a press union says.

Following in footsteps of Russia, Turkey and maybe modeling some behavior for the U.S., Hong Kong apparently opts to weaponize taxes against journalists.
hongkongfp.com/2025/05/21/h...

Inside the world of Superbikes: ‘It is not a job or a hobby. It is a life’ | The Observer Two deaths a fortnight ago have failed to dispel the turbocharged allure of the motorsport for riders

Culture reporting takes many forms. Here's a great example of the form. observer.co.uk/news/sport/a...