Sanchez is the only one with the cojones to speak truth to Trump. He deserves credit for that. But he is a foreign policy opportunist, pursuing an anti-EU “Spain First” policy on China and Russia (through his resistance to NATO defense spending targets). Not sure this qualifies as most successful
Lutnick's plan to get China "addicted" to Nvidia chips hasn't worked out so well
www.ft.com/content/47f1...
Alex Stubb offering geopolitical advice at the Raisina Dialogue: "When the going gets tough, a Finn goes in the sauna and takes an ice bath"
“Some experts say that the economy’s actual growth may be half of what official statistics indicate. Rhodium Group, a New York-based research firm specializing in China, estimated that the Chinese economy grew less than 3 percent last year.”
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/04/b...
Another one bites the dust. Media organizations whose owners are beholden to, supportive and/or enthusiastic backers of Trump
✅ CNN
✅ Washingon Post
✅ CBS News
✅ X
✅ Meta/Instagram/Facebook
✅ Tiktok
✅ Fox
✅ WSJ
✅ Politico
Sure I’ve missed some but nuff said…
www.ft.com/content/2502...
Israel’s defence minister says that “any leader” chosen by the Iranian regime would be a clear target for “elimination”
www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_ent...
Can you imagine what the Afghanistan withdrawal would have looked like under Trump?
It's one thing to show support for the strikes. It's another to lend credence to Trump's disingenuous suggestion that Iran posed an imminent threat. We all understand that Berlin & Brussels have decided not to pick a fight with Trump on Iran. But this rhetoric is totally unnecessary
Some commentators have lumped the Merz, Starmer and Carney visits together as like-for-like Trump-inspired China resets. The table below shows why this narrative is unhelpful. Germany faces a far greater threat from China's manufacturing dominance than do the UK or Canada.
A giant gamble is underway in Iran. The result may take years to be known. An early winner, though, is Israel. Fearing a fight with Donald Trump, allies from Germany to Australia are endorsing Israeli rules of war, notably the killing of enemy govt leaders. My column
economist.com/internationa...
The best description for the weakness of China’s domestic economy at this point is not crisis or collapse but prolonged decay—the declining efficiency and effectiveness of policy tools, producing weaker economic growth as a result.
rhg.com/research/chi...
Fully agree Nathalie. I have been shocked by the reaction in Europe
"An China führt kein Weg vorbei" (there is no way around China) is a favorite expression of the German left, which is now being used by Friedrich Merz. Not long ago, you would hear the phrase used in relation to Russia. It is a message of defeatism
www.ipg-journal.de/rubriken/aus...
Remember the days of Colin Powell, when fabricating the reasons for going to war was a scandal?
“The first thing Xi said to Merz was that unification with Taiwan would happen,” one person who was on the trip told me. This triggered what one diplomat described to me as an “intensive discussion” between the two leaders on Taiwan.
In my latest Watching China in Europe column, I deconstruct German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's first trip to China - the good, the bad and the ugly
open.substack.com/pub/nbarkin/...
How many CBS “journalists” does it take to write an absolutely crap story? Three it turns out
To say I am disappointed by this X post from Lindsey Graham is an understatement. It is so sad to see a leading US Senator who should know better lose their passion for justice and a sense of right and wrong. To Lindsey Graham: you have gone pathetically soft and lost your zeal for confronting evil
Here we go
While Merz talks about a “comprehensive strategic partnership” with China, the Greens in Berlin & Brussels are talking about the second China shock
Important reading for Europeans panicked about the prospect of a Trump-Xi deal
www.scmp.com/news/china/a...
Xi’s purge continues: China sacks nine senior military officers, including an army commander in a critical position for a potential attack on Taiwan
www.ft.com/content/602b...
Trump has made NATO weaker than ever. No one can say it out loud but everyone - including Bridge - knows it
foreignpolicy.com/2026/02/14/e...
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If he were Scholz he would claim credit for the 1.5%
Peter Magyar’s Tisza party is running almost 8 percentage points ahead of Viktor Orban’s ruling Fidesz ahead of an April 12 election, according to an average of all available polls. One poll this week showed Magyar 20 points ahead.
www.ft.com/content/8521...
You have to appreciate the choice of photos by the Chinese side. No question who is the master in this one
Nothing significant in the Germany-China MOUs signed during the Merz visit:
- climate change and the green transition
- animal disease prevention
- poultry products protocol
- sports collaboration agreements for football and table tennis.
www.reuters.com/world/china/...
