On March 28, 2025 a rollout ceremony took place at Lockheed Martin’s F-16 production facility in Greenville, South Carolina. Two F16V block 70 jets were ready for final testing, and the ceremony marked the formal handover to Taiwan. The Greenville ceremony was attended by Taiwan’s Defense Minister and by Taiwan’s […]
East Asia
Counterfeit Righteousness: Anthropic, AI And The Pacing Fallacy
It’s bleak. “They are racing straight toward self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives.” So stated researcher Jacob Coxon on those artificial intelligence firms so keen on imposing their jaundiced visions upon humanity in the name of a utopia that is just another word for self-enrichment. In resigning from Anthropic, […]
China’s AI Ambitions Widen A Dangerous Economic Gap
China’s economy is pulling in two directions at once, and July’s data makes the split harder to ignore. On one side, household spending is barely growing and the property sector remains locked in a multi-year collapse. On the other, factories are running hotter than ever, with high-tech manufacturing surging at […]
The Leverage Nobody Has Ever Held: Lagarde’s Warning About Europe’s AI Dependency
Christine Lagarde doesn’t typically frame central bank speeches around geopolitical vulnerability, but her address in Vienna this week did exactly that. The European Central Bank president argued that Europe’s growing reliance on American and Chinese artificial intelligence isn’t just a competitiveness gap – it’s a strategic exposure that could hand […]
When Washington Pulls Back: Is Europe Preparing For A Post-American Order?
For decades, Europe and the United States treated their trans-Atlantic relationship as more than an alliance. It was the political infrastructure of the Western order itself. Washington provided much of the military power, Europe benefited from security and economic stability, and both sides presented a common vision of international governance […]
Here’s How China & India Can Meaningfully Help End The Ukrainian Conflict
Agreeing to dispatch their peacekeepers, particularly to the part of Donbass from which Ukraine might withdraw and the rest of the frontline at minimum, could be the spark required for moving the stalled peace process along and finally placing the conflict on the path to a comprehensive resolution. Kremlin spokesman […]
Five Reflections On The 25th Anniversary Of 9/11
It was a defining moment in the modern era that radically changed the course of history. The largest terrorist attack in modern history occurred a quarter-century ago when Al Qaeda operatives hijacked several planes and then crashed them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Everyone remembers where they […]
Why Won’t China Cut Ukraine Off From Drone-Related Sales?
Indefinitely perpetuating the Ukrainian Conflict through these means indefinitely delays the full implementation of the US’ planned “Pivot (back) to (East) Asia”, can lead to Russia selling its natural resource wealth to China at bargain-basement prices, and maintains China’s “active neutrality”. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) referenced the EU’s summertime […]
Slanted Cartography: The Politics Of Mapping
There is much in the nature of a map. The very drawing of a line signifies an assertion, an acceptance, or even a repudiation of power. Borders are delineated for reasons of interest and understanding. I chart, therefore it is. Areas of territorial dispute are reconciled by the cartographer’s handy […]
Duty-Free China-Africa Trade
On 17 February 2026, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced a sweeping measure: from 1 May 2026, China would lift import tariffs on goods from the 53 African Union (AU) member states that maintain diplomatic relations with Beijing. The policy-covering goods worth more than $116 billion, roughly Africa’s 2024 exports to […]






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