Andrew Stokols

high pants: another thing Trump and Xi have in common.

Tanking a 10+ year gaining economy in only 6 weeks has to be a record for any President

Russian missile attack on Odesa damages civilian foreign vessel, casualties reported A Russian ballistic missile struck the Odesa port on the evening of March 1, damaging port infrastructure as well as a foreign civilian ship flying the flag of Panama, Odesa Oblast Governor Oleh Kiper...

While Trump and Vance were berating Zelensky for not wanting to make peace, Russia was busy attacking Odessa

kyivindependent.com/russian-miss...

Energy and AI Coordination in the ‘Eastern Data Western Computing’ Plan Executive Summary: The “Eastern Data Western Computing” plan is a multiagency strategy that coordinates cloud computing data centers and energy infrastructure across the People’s Republic of China. Th...

My article on China's coordination of AI and energy infrastructure for Jamestown Foundation #China #AI #data #cloud

jamestown.org/program/ener...

but the more likely objective for Putin's Russia is opening up commercial opportunities for U.S. without giving anything away in the relationship with China--i.e. balancing like many other countries are doing.

however, this could change, if
1. China's influence over Russia grows to a degree that Russian elites feel uncomfortable with and wish to balance
2. China asks for territorial or resource concessions in the Russian Far East, or tries to annex parts of Siberia

How splitting Russia and China is unrealistic and unlike situation faced by Nixon in 1970s
1. There is currently no real animus between Russia /China
2. Putin and Xi have agreed on strategic objective of weakening U.S hegemony
3. There's no ideological tension between Russia/China as in 1970s

X locked me out of my account while I was posting an article criticizing Trump/Elon. I think this is the last straw with X. Everyone delete your accounts and boycott X!!

Disgusted by this as a Fulbright alum. But not surprised as the Trump admin systematically destroys every program that strengthens the U.S. and its relations with the world. For what? tax cuts for the wealthiest .001%

Over the weekend Steve Bannon:

- Proclaimed support for Israel
- Did a sieg heil salute
- Issued threats against progressive American Jews.

Bannon and his actions epitomize what it means to be an antisemitic supporter of Israel in our government.

Trump Administration Questions Funding for California High-Speed Rail The transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, said the government would conduct a “compliance review” on a $3.1 billion grant, potentially threatening the viability of the troubled project.

For all his claims that he is a "builder" Trump can only destroy. Instead of actually building infrastructure Trump has decided to try to kill existing infrastructure projects. So much for infrastructure week!
www.nytimes.com/2025/02/20/u...

LinkedIn post from Dr Eric Rudenshiold, a former USAID officer. “Yes. USAID’s total budget is less than half of one percent of the federal budget, but by law it hires Americans, buys American, and creates markets for American goods overseas. USAID’s budget is micromanaged and overseen by Congress, with little discretionary funding. Cut American soft power and you cede the field to China and other competitors. This is not even a drop in the federal bucket and a fiscally meaningless gesture.”

Some more talking points for those that may find themselves in conversation with a Muskite

Senior USAID security officials put on leave after refusing Musk’s DOGE access to agency systems | CNN Politics Two top security officials at the US Agency for International Development were put on administrative leave Saturday night after refusing to allow officials from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Ef...

You can't just get rid of a government agency without congressional approval, how is Musk getting away with this?
www.cnn.com/2025/02/02/p...

DC peeps, and all eastern seaboarders that can make it, get in here

Opinion | Don’t Believe Him Look closely at the first two weeks of Donald Trump’s second term and you’ll see something very different than what he wants you to see.

An important post by @ezrakleinbot.bsky.social --Trump has no strategy other than to overwhelm and move as fast as possible, and the failure to think strategically or act slowly could be their undoing.

www.nytimes.com/2025/02/02/o...

Landscapes of state capitalism: Reconciling the vernacular, national development imaginaries, and green capital accumulation This article theorizes ‘state capitalist landscapes’ as a unique spatial form shaped by state-owned developers that reconcile economic goals with national development imperatives and symbolic nationa....

New article: I propose the concept of "landscapes of state capitalism" theorizing unique spatial & aesthetic qualities of industrial/ innovation zones built by state-owned developers, based on research in Singapore, China (Xiong'an), and Thailand.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Xi Jinping's Archival Project to Rewrite Chinese History The National Archives of Publications and Culture is Xi's version of previous Imperial archival projects like Qianlong's Four Treasuries or the Yongle Dictionary.

How does a new four branch archival project of Xi Jinping aim to rewrite Chinese history--find out in my new Sinocities post:
sinocities.substack.com/p/xi-jinping...

YouTube video by WoodrowWilsonCenter Book Talk | Putin's Revenge: Why Russia Invaded Ukraine

Anyone interested in why the Ukraine war happened should listen to this talk by @luciankim.bsky.social

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qb2p...

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

Announcing a recent article on "extended state infrastructure power" in Environment and Planning A, how do countries caught between U.S. and China (in this case Thailand and Taiwan) navigate networked competition through their own infrastructure projects?

journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....