Polymarket currently gives a 17% chance the Iranian regime falls by March 31st.
@arkellogg.bsky.social thinks that's low. I think Trump will bail before then due to economic pressure.
Who's right? We recorded this 24 hours into the conflict.
🎙️ Kellogg's Global Politics: bit.ly/3OMiGFw
Posts by Ryan P. Kellogg
📰 New Podcast Episode!
@arkellogg.bsky.social and I cover a lot of ground:
🛸UFO Update (US Congressional UAP Hearing on September 9th)
🕊️Gaza Peace Plan: Trump Done Good?
💰Argentina First, America Last?
⚠️Illiberalism on the March in Western Europe
bit.ly/47bPcGK
📰 New Podcast Episode!
Interview by @arkellogg.bsky.social with @csis.org 's William A. Reinsch discussing Trump trade policy & tariffs.
We also cover:
• Russia-Ukraine War Peace Efforts
• US Strikes on Latin American Drug Cartels?
• Iran after the 12-day War: Still a Threat?
bit.ly/3JJ8Y4t
5/Ultimately agree with the article that we shouldn't give up on advancing classical liberal values by shutting our doors to Chinese students, even if the US strategy of changing the CCP as a whole, via economic liberalization in the early 2000s, turned into a colossal failure.
4/But most returnees are going to be undergrads and master's students, usually from well-off & connected families. Maybe this can overcome the growing bias against hai gui and still land government roles--in which case they could be well positioned for American intelligence.
3/Research I did with UCLA's Robert Zeithammer found that PhD students with more nationalist pride were willing to sacrifice higher incomes in the US to return home & contribute to China's rise. Meaning that the 15-20% of those that do return might not be receptive to US intel wooing. bit.ly/3I3eC0x
2/Most Chinese students in the US (~220,000) are pursuing undergrad and master's programs with the intention of returning home. This is separate from the 50,000 PhDs (mostly in STEM) that largely stay after graduation (80-85%) and play a critical role in US R&D ecosystem, particularly in AI.
1/Trump's all over the place on the China student visa issue and got major MAGA blowback for his 600,000 number. Interesting take in @thehill.com from @niskanencenter.bsky.social's Gil Guerra regarding recruitment of Chinese students for US intelligence purposes. A few thoughts. bit.ly/4p59eL7
A lack of sustained federal funding, deteriorating research infrastructure and networks, restrictive immigration policies, and waning international collaboration are creating a full-scale American Brain Drain.
We went to the Hill last month to talk about it.
fas.org/publication/...
5/All of this does seem to be setting up China to be the global 'savior' around climate change--if not in reality than at least as a powerful marketing tool for the CCP to use in global forums to further it's soft power gains. shorturl.at/w9lfs
4/One benefit of an emerging Chinese 'electrostate' is regardless of US action, emissions should be in for major declines. A flood of cheap Chinese solar & EVs in the Global South should cut future GHG growth and China's own emissions should follow EU/US decline trends, right? shorturl.at/ynbEO
3/In terms of energy exports, US LNG has higher margins/value, but locks in customers for decades, has a volatile fuel price, and requires specialized infrastructure. Chinese solar panels+batteries seems more modular and appealing for the developing world. shorturl.at/nD1fw
2/Given bi-partisan national security concerns on China and the increasing importance of drone warfare--are we now disincentivizing battery development for these applications or just ones for EVs? Seems like both since the tech stack is interlinked. shorturl.at/Dz9Xb
1/@robinsonmeyer.bsky.social 's NYT oped on China's growing lead on renewable technology is a must read. Is the US making a major strategic blunder--losing not only economically, but also global hard and soft power? A few thoughts. shorturl.at/3SYe8
MY LATEST:
🧃 "It's basically like if you have a multi-fruit juice.."
🚗#rareearths are essential to so much tech we rely on
🇫🇷 My visit to @SolvayGroup in France explains how they're produced & how #Europe is trying to become less reliant on #China
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Here's a link to the Trump AI plan. Not much concern about job displacement in here... bit.ly/4ftn4Te
Thanks for pointing this out. Haven't read through it all yet, but this section in the Trump AI plan stood out since it runs counter to US AI champions like OpenAI (closed model, for-profit). It's been Chinese models like Deepseek that are leading the open source race.
Nice overview by @evanhalper.bsky.social on nuclear microreactors. It seems like great potential for niche uses where fuel sources like natural gas and diesel are unavailable or limited (i.e. isolated communities, space), but project economics will be a killer elsewhere. bit.ly/4mbVYCA
📰 New Podcast Episode!
Liberation Day Redux — @arkellogg.bsky.social & I discuss
• Trump’s tariff fallout: Who’s winning (if anyone is)?
• The deadly flare-up on the Thailand–Cambodia border
• The latest on the Russia–Ukraine war and shifting U.S. policy.
bit.ly/4mtA0KS
2/If that happens it will be another sign of how far Russia has fallen in the Middle East as discussed in @mcfaulmike.bsky.social & Abbas Miliani's excellent piece in @foreignaffairs.com. bit.ly/4mwlF0t
1/Not sold on Trump’s threat of secondary sanctions on Russian oil buyers — markets would panic if triple-digit China tariffs return. Still, good point by @jonathanjosephs.bsky.social : OPEC+ may boost supply to stabilize prices, helping shield US consumers in the short term. bit.ly/4msDBJ8
In which Pyotr Kurzin and I have a pleasant chat on a gloomy subject -- sanctions, economic warfare, and Russia's war on Ukraine www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfjX...
@warwickecon.bsky.social @cagewarwick.bsky.social @britishacademy.bsky.social @cepr.org
Fellow podcast host of Kellogg's Global Politics, @arkellogg.bsky.social quoted recently by TND about US-China trade deal progress and the August 12th deadline. We discuss more in next week's episode. bit.ly/3TYqIuk
This seems highly unlikely given Trump’s stated goal of $50/bbl oil. Plus keeping Russian crude off the market means going after big buyers like China and India. Lower energy prices is the only thing keeping US inflation under control since ‘Liberation Day’
Nice piece on China's AI push in @nytimes.com. I wonder if the Chinese model can compete with US public-private innovation hubs like Silicon Valley, Austin, RTP etc--I think Hangzhou's Dream Town is the only equivalent. Beijing's $8.5B for AI start-ups seems like chump change though. bit.ly/40xUY2U
Nice article by @joshuaqyang.bsky.social on the degree creep in China for new grads. A tough labor market and lower pay back home has been one of the main reasons why Chinese PhDs in the US have high stay rates (>80%). All the more reason not push them out with hostile visa policies. bit.ly/3Uaav5d
That's interesting-I wasn't aware that China had some small pilot plants using thorium. My understanding is that thorium produces less radioactive waste and is easier to mine. Looks like China has an advantage on supply since it's a waste product of rare earth mining. bit.ly/3IHv2eV
@arkellogg.bsky.social talks with Lt. Col. Alex C. Montgomery & Lt. Col. Shannon Waller about drones, robotics, and the future of warfare on the latest episode of Kellogg's Global Politics. Interesting insights into how the US & South Korea approach innovation in the defense industry. bit.ly/4eYCGOt
6/From a climate perspective, Chinese solar has been a big positive. Can't think of a national security threat that cheap solar panels pose to the US. Biden's subsidies to support US companies on silicon-based panels never made sense--support R&D to leapfrog to next gen tech instead.
5/Good luck to the Chinese if they can make nuclear economically sustainable. Again seems like a low margin business that US and other allies have ignored until recently. Would be concerned if Chinese were leading in next gen reactors, but think they are still using GE light-water reactor designs