Don Lemon and Georgia Fort have been released.
But the procedural history now emerging is unusual. Before the arrests, a federal magistrate judge found no probable cause to arrest them. The government appealed anyway.
Here’s why that matters—and what it signals more broadly.
@mfullilove@Lingling_Wei But does it pass the sniff test? Remember China can easily excuse anyone who meets with foreigners of sharing secrets. Remember Zhao Ziyang meeting Gorbachev in 1989. It’s a pretext to hide the purge’s real intent.
It also completely ignores the very pro-Beijing tilt of the current political situation in Taiwan. The prospect of a KMT victory in 2028 is relatively high. So they might be able to win Taiwan without fighting.
I find this a very weak argument for an invasion this year. The PLA leadership is in disarray and Xi Jinping getting what he wants from Trump on so many fronts. At the same time, INDOPAC is building very new capabilities with Japan/Philippines/Australia etc. The new KMT leadership is very friendly. Why upset a very positive geopolitical position by destroying Taiwan?
hello from shanghai.
I’ve been deep in the tech scene across hangzhou, liangzhu, and shanghai, meeting a few dozens of devs who are working on ai. a big revelation is…so far, probably due to some confirmation bias, not a single one is using Chinese coding tools. they’re all on Claude Code/Antigravity/Codex/Cursor.
in other words: despite some strong local and free options, Chinese coders just don’t seem to be using them.
hello from shanghai.
I’ve been deep in the tech scene across hangzhou, liangzhu, and shanghai, meeting a few dozens of devs who are working on ai. a big revelation is…so far, probably due to some confirmation bias, not a single one is using Chinese coding tools. they’re all on Claude Code/Antigravity/Codex/Cursor.
in other words: despite some strong local and free options, Chinese coders just don’t seem to be using them.
People often have a conception that the news media is 100% manipulated by the powers that be. Fact is the “timing” of a piece is often dependent on the reporting—when dogged scribes get confirmation, when their editors feel that the story is ready.
While Japanese concern over the US commitment to the alliance is natural (heck, it dates all the way back to Nixon, and includes the Clinton administration as well), Trump did have a call with Takaichi Tuesday during which Trump briefed her on US-China relations.
@JEPomfret I'm sorry, I'm not sure I understand your point, John. Is there something in this readout that leads you to conclude that this analysis is OBE? https://t.co/Me1MN9DwXJ
The Takaichi Effect: Why Xi Dialed Trump
@Lingling_Wei notes that Xi took the unusual step of initiating a call with Trump — something he refused to do throughout the recent trade war.
The timing is no coincidence. The call comes just as Beijing enters what looks to be the opening phase of a long confrontation with Japan under Takaichi.
This maneuver from Xi brings to mind an old Chinese saying: ��物降一物 — no matter how powerful a man appears, there is always someone who can keep him in check. In plain English: every man has his master.
As someone who has navigated the Chinese bureaucracy, I knows this play instinctively. The real contest isn’t the official seated across from you. The real contest is identifying who actually holds the remote control to his decisions.
Sometimes it’s his political patron.
Sometimes it’s his wife.
Sometimes it’s his kid.
And sometimes, it’s the beloved mistress.
Once you find the true master, the rest is targeted persuasion.
Seen through that lens, Xi looks at Japan and decides the real boss isn’t in Tokyo — it’s in Washington. So as he braces for a long, chilly stretch of strategic hostility with Japan, he reaches for the same bureaucratic playbook he learned inside the system. Old habits die hard; political instincts die even harder.
After all, every man is shaped by the system that raised him — and in China’s system, the first rule is simple: you’re not really talking to the right person until you find the person who owns his decisions.
That’s why Xi didn’t call Trump during the trade war.
He’s calling now — because Japan just picked a leader he knows he finds hard to deal with.
How Trump responds will be consequential. It will be a clear signal to every leader watching and wondering whether standing up to China still has backing at Washington.
Tesla is working to build LFP batteries for energy-storage products in the U.S. In October, the company said it expected its facility in Nevada making such battery products to start running in the first quarter of 2026.
Poniższe zdjęcia na zawsze przejdą do wspólnych historii polskiego i amerykańskiego wywiadu.
Może kiedyś w jakiejś wyodrebnionej części ośrodka w Starych Kiejkutach powstanie Muzeum Historii Polskiego Wywiadu i Kontrwywiadu?
@JEPomfret@AWgovPL@CIA@JacekDobrzynski
#HistoriiWywiadu #LudzieWywiadu #UOP #CIA #JohnPalevich