Trump’s Affinity for Putin Grows More Consequential Than Ever President Trump’s admiration for President Vladimir Putin of Russia has been endlessly dissected, but the American leader’s policy shifts since taking office again could have profound effects.

“What is Putin getting? He is getting more than he and other former K.G.B. officers ever dreamed of,” said @calderwalton.bsky.social

www.nytimes.com/2025/03/08/u...

Head of FBI Washington Field Office is forced out David Sundberg headed the field office as its agents participated in investigations of Donald Trump, whose administration has asked for resignations from a number of top FBI officials.

NBC Exclusive:

Trump is escalating his FBI purge.

David Sundberg, the assistant director in charge of the FBI's Washington Field Office, has been notified that he'll lose his job.

Sundberg headed the office as its agents participated in the Trump investigations. www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...

See our excellent briefing on the issue last week: www.economist.com/briefing/202...

C.I.A. Now Favors Lab Leak Theory to Explain Covid’s Origins A new analysis that began under the Biden administration is released by the C.I.A.’s new director, John Ratcliffe, who wants the agency to get “off the sidelines” in the debate.

The CIA has said for years that it did not have enough information to conclude how the Covid pandemic originated. The agency has issued a new assessment this week, with analysts saying they now favor the theory that it emerged from an accidental leak at a research lab in Wuhan, China.

I hope you found it informative!

@shashj.bsky.social Here's one for you -

In the MI5 files opened this week on the Cambridge Spy, John Cairncross, when he was interviewed in 1951 and asked what his political views were, he replied

"those of The Economist"

!

"The use of facial disguise is not recommended."

Handbook for MI5 surveillance teams, declassified today at UK national archives. The tranche of newly available records includes MI5 files on the notorious Cambridge spy ring.

I'll be writing about those files for The Cipher Brief, coming out soon