Beijing kills two (or more) birds with one stone with the new export controls. For Europe, this means seriously slowing down Europe’s rearmament by hitting hard at European defence industries. Beijing was never a fan of the 5% GDP defence target.

This is fundamentally necessary, and as a European, I am pleased that our policymakers are finally doing the bare minimum. This has been obvious for a decade (if not more, considering the number of industries we would have lost to China). 1/

Build the dependencies and they will kowtow. Beijing’s geoeconomic power on display in the 🇬🇧 — without 🇨🇳 doing anything, simply harvesting the benefits.

In her interview, Mrs Merkel gives the impression that Poland and the Baltic states prevented diplomacy with Moscow, and therefore, after her departure, Russia’s aggression broke out.

There’s also, if not entirely another, but a complementary explanation.
It was and is all about HER.

The Finnish Foreign Minister @elinavaltonen.bsky.social acknowledges the tragic facts: “Unfortunately, dealing with any imperialist power like Russia, diplomacy hardly helps.”

FT: The battle for US media freedom: “One way to gauge the intentions of would-be authoritarians is to see how far they tolerate the jesters. An early sign of Putin’s quest to bring 🇷🇺 media to heel was the 2001 axing of Kukly (Puppets), a TV show that often satirised the thin-skinned president.”

Meanwhile, a robot delivers food home during a heavy snowfall in Finland.

But China is not open.

Are the US actions thus now a violation of Xi's red line: “China's right to development”?

Russian embassy in Tallinn, Estonia. Locals don't hide their sentiments.

Interesting times. Although I remember that in Kazan, the BRICS members already acknowledged that a common currency is not a practical solution but for now, strengthening the use of national currencies in cross-boarder trade and exploring digital alternatives in the future.

China's Foreign Ministry denies claims of drone cooperation bw 🇨🇳and 🇷🇺 as expected. The EU foreign ministers have messaged that there will be consequences. The EEAS/Borrell appears to be diminishing the intelligence report. @fbermingham.bsky.social
Will we witness stretching the red line once again?

Excellent example of how Chinese state media spins, twists and uses “news” to blur the reality, and how it spreads Russian fake news. Together they form a powerful twin #propaganda machinery.

For India to help Russia boost its armament capabilities will not - and should not be taken lightly among the Western partners.