'A clear step change': European EV sales jump by over 50 per cent in March Over 224,000 battery EVs registered last month, as businesses and consumers respond to soaring oil prices

EVs won the war.

UPDATE 034-JMIC ADVISORY NOTE

www.ukmto.org/-/media/ukmt...

Behind Trump’s Public Bravado on the War, He Grapples With His Own Fears The president’s impulsive style has never been tested in a sustained military conflict, and he’s been ruminating on Jimmy Carter’s failure in Iran.

The headline makes it out like there’s some serious internal dilemma going on but the actual article makes it clear there’s none of that going on. To the contrary this is a story of a President who doesn’t care or even seem to think much about the active war we’re in.

BREAKING: Beijing expels New York Times correspondent Vivian Wang over Taiwan row Exclusive: Visa denial followed Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te’s appearance at NYT’s DealBook summit.

Formosa Review: Beijing expels New York Times correspondent Vivian Wang over Taiwan row – ’as she was outside the country reporting from Seoul’

I'm delighted to announce that I'm joining the Chicago Council as Vice President of Research!

I'm proud to have worked at RAND and excited for the opportunity ahead!

@global-affairs.bsky.social

Ukraine Has Written Off the United States Zelensky has stopped pretending that Trump might be an ally.

Latest in @theatlantic.com The Ukrainians are now longer pretending that Donald Trump's USA is their friend. Their honesty is important as they seem to understand how much Trump is helping Putin and how important it is that Europe stick together. Gift Link. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Sigh.

Iranian gunboats have fired on a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, British military says Iranian gunboats have fired on a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, British military says.

The Strait is dead for the foreseeable future. Trump can say it's blocked or unblocked or whatever. Tankers aren't going until this shit is sorted out in some permanent way.

The Shocking Secrets of Madison Square Garden's Surveillance Machine Famously vengeful Knicks owner Jim Dolan has long spied on people at his iconic arenas. WIRED goes deep inside the operation that allegedly tracked a trans woman, lawyers, protesters, and more.

Famously vengeful Knicks owner Jim Dolan has long spied on people at his iconic arenas. WIRED goes deep inside the operation that allegedly tracked a trans woman, lawyers, protesters, and more. www.wired.com/story/madiso...

Two Lessons from Hungary for 2026 and 2028 Unity and accountability.

I think there are two key takeaways for Americans from Peter Magyar’s ouster of Orbán:

1. We must rally overwhelmingly behind the 2028 Dem nominee
2. We have to be ready to send people to prison if we win

My latest for @liberalcurrents.com www.liberalcurrents.com/two-lessons-...

DOD officially launches new Economic Defense Unit to mesh military aims with global financial sway Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg's memo formally establishes the Economic Defense Unit and the position of EDU director.

defensescoop.com/2026/04/10/d...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 4/15/2026 Global Taiwan Institute Announces Bipartisan US- Taiwan Task Force The Global Taiwan Institute (GTI) today announced the membership of its US-Taiwan Task Force, a bipartisan coalition of prominent national security experts, former government officials, and leading academics from the United States and Taiwan. Chaired by Ambassador Robert C. O'Brien (ret.), 27th United States National Security Advisor, and vice-chaired by Dr. Ely Ratner, former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs, the Task Force will conduct a comprehensive review of US-Taiwan relations and provide actionable recommendations for decision-makers in both Washington and Taipei. "The work of the US-Taiwan Task Force comes at a critical moment with much at stake for both the United States and Taiwan. GTI has assembled an exceptional bipartisan roster of experts across policy domains who each bring an indispensable viewpoint to the discussion. I look forward to collaborating with my colleagues to provide real policy recommendations that advance the partnership and mutual interests between - اد ص:ما- -/١٨ and Taima: "

• Zack Cooper, Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) • Rush Doshi, C.V. Starr Senior Fellow for Asia studies and Director of the China Strategy Initiative at the Council on Foreign Relations (FR) • Chris Estep, Non-Resident Fellow in the Asia Program at the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI) • David Feith, Senior Fellow at Hudson Institute • Alexander B. Gray, Chief Executive Officer of American Global Strategies • Jimmy Goodrich, Senior Fellow at University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC) • Melanie Hart, Senior Director of Global China Hub at Atlantic Council • RADM (Ret.) Mark Montgomery, Senior Director of Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation at Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) • Daniel Poneman, Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations • Logan Wright, Partner at Rhodium Group • Chern-Chyi (CC) Chen, Board Member of Taiwan Economic Security Association, former Deputy Minister at Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) • Chen-wei Lin, former CEO, Institute for National Defense and Security Research

Global Taiwan Institute announced their US-Taiwan Task Force this year. Quite the mix of folks.

Not many younger experts.

this is a microcosm of the world as conservatives want it, where “merit” means an unrestricted good ol’ boys club

Deep-sea wildernesses are more important than the promise of seafloor mining (analysis) When I set sail on the MV NorSky in the summer of 2008 to probe the depths of Manus Basin off the coast of Papua New Guinea, I believed in the promise of deep-sea mining. As an early-career deep-sea e...

"When I set sail on the MV NorSky in the summer of 2008 to probe the depths of Manus Basin off the coast of Papua New Guinea, I believed in the promise of deep-sea mining..."

news.mongabay.com/2026/04/deep...

PSA: If you’re interested in teaching #PME at the Army Command and General Staff College, reliable source informed me eleven T10 faculty openings will be announced via USAjobs in the coming days. That’s all I know.

This was a tough one to write, and I took a bit of a personal risk sharing my own career-long process of discovery from tentatively swayed by the potential for deep-sea mining to convinced that we are simply not ready.

China’s Battery Exports Surge as War Drives Energy-Supply Crunch China’s lithium battery exports surged in the first quarter, reinforcing early signs of demand for alternative power sources to counter the global energy-supply crunch arising from the war in the Midd...

China won the war.

Deep-sea wildernesses are more important than the promise of seafloor mining (analysis) When I set sail on the MV NorSky in the summer of 2008 to probe the depths of Manus Basin off the coast of Papua New Guinea, I believed in the promise of deep-sea mining. As an early-career deep-sea e...

The only thing inevitable in the deep sea is discovery.

Deep-sea wildernesses are more important than the promise of seafloor mining.

news.mongabay.com/2026/04/deep...

Foundation says it found evidence of misconduct - Taipei Times Bringing Taiwan to the World and the World to Taiwan

Taipei Times: Ma Ying-jeou Foundation says it found evidence of misconduct – ‘of suspected financial misconduct by its former chief executive officer Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) and former deputy chief executive officer Wang Kuang-tzu’
‘Hsiao […] is also Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) deputy chairman’

Sayragul Sauytbay: China Is Escalating Repression of Uyghurs and Kazakhs In an exclusive interview, the former camp worker describes worsening abuses, transnational pressure, and the urgent need for global accountability.

‘In an exclusive interview, the former camp worker describes worsening abuses, transnational pressure, and the urgent need for global accountability’.

The same week the NYTimes was devoting its significant resources to producing this ridiculous piece about Lauren Sanchez Bezos's call for rich people to not worry and be happy, Ryan Hass, an independent journalist in Oregon, was investigating this horrifying story about a death in an Amazon plant.

or Chicago!
Or both!!!

Everybody’s all confused by the whole ‘Pope Leo is soft on crime’ thing when there’s a very clear explanation: that POTUS actually thinks the Pope runs Italy

Peter Magyar confirmed that Szijjarto, Orbán's FM, has barricaded himself with some of his closest colleagues and is shredding documents related to the sanctions on Russia any other evidence of treason.

白沙屯媽祖前往北港朝天宮進香4/13 YouTube video by 壹電視NEXT TV

The Baishatun Mazu pilgrimage has started and, as usual, there is a live broadcast: www.youtube.com/watch?v=swP_...

I spent 16, SIXTEEN years fighting this crap.

I can’t believe it 😭

Viktor Orban faces the dreadful fate of a guest fellowship at the Heritage Foundation

more seriously congrats to the hungarian people for kicking that asshole out

May 14 I’ll be at UC-Berkeley talking about critical minerals (mostly bashing seabed mining, in all probability).

I’ll be the least qualified person speaking there. Come say hi if you see me!

There’s gotta be some enforced apathy going on where it’s just labeled uncool to care about stuff (like what your govt is doing)