When you live in an epistemic bubble, like many EU foreign ministers do, you talk about Ukraine when you deliver a lecture in... Singapore (!) Then you emphasize "opportunities for collaboration between Germany and Indo-Pacific partners", but among them you mention Tonga (population: 103,500 people) and omit China, Germany’s largest import partner. That's what the German Foreign Minister did at the Singapore Raffles conference 😅 https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/en/newsroom/news/wadephul-singapore-2754584 After delivering his bizarre speech, he felt compelled to explain "Germany is closer to the US than China despite recent tensions."
But as the conference was organized by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, founded and headquartered in London, with offices in Washington, Bahrain, and Singapore, that sort of epistemic blindness is precisely what is demanded of a EUnuch. @LauraRuHK

Quando vivi in una bolla epistemica, come fanno molti ministri degli Esteri dell’UE, e ti invitano a una conferenza a Singapore, che cosa fai? Parli di Ucraina, ovviamente. Poi sottolinei le “opportunità di collaborazione tra la Germania e i partner dell’Indo-Pacifico”, ma tra questi menzioni Tonga (popolazione: 103.500 persone) e ometti la Cina, il principale fornitore della Germania. È ciò che ha fatto il ministro degli Esteri tedesco alla conferenza IISS che si tiene all' Hotel Raffles di Singapore 😅 https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/en/newsroom/news/wadephul-singapore-2754584 Wadephul, dopo aver pronunciato il suo bizzarro discorso, si è sentito in dovere di spiegare: “La Germania è più vicina agli Stati Uniti che alla Cina, nonostante le recenti tensioni.”

Ma poiché la conferenza era organizzata dall’International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), fondato a Londra, quartier generale a Londra, uffici a Washington, Bahrein e Singapore, quel tipo di cecità epistemica è precisamente ciò che viene richiesto a un EUnuco. @LauraRuHK

THE SLEEPERS - There are many intelligence assets who have been placed or created in social media spaces in order to assist in controlling narratives at some point in the future. Until then, they say all the right things their intended audience wants to hear: they sound like China and Russia's best advocates, criticize the US etc, but with the help of US-owned digital platforms they gather a large following (their content often goes viral), build their credibility and influence. In some cases their main raison d’être is to sow distrust and confusion. Recently another one of them was brought to my attention. How do you recognize them? It's not that difficult, actually. Just dig a bit deeper into their legend and you will discover that a few years ago they didn't "exist", as in zero traces of what they claim they were doing. Meanwhile the authors they often parrot are de-platformed, blocked or shadow-banned. Unfortunately there isn't much we can do to protect ourselves from impostors who say and do everything we have been saying and doing for years, just better thanks to their unlimited resources and powerful network. Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s The Double comes to mind. The double is everything Golyadkin is not: charming, confident, and socially adept. He begins to replace Golyadkin in professional and personal circles, leaving the original increasingly isolated. Golyadkin becomes obsessed with proving his identity and exposing the impostor, but his paranoia deepens. His attempts to resist only make him appear more unstable. The double fully supplants him, and Golyadkin’s mental state deteriorates to the point of breakdown. @LauraRuHK

Chinese exports to the US declined by 20% in dollar terms in 2025, according to customs data. However, shipments surged elsewhere: up 25.8% to Africa, 13.4% to Southeast Asia (ASEAN countries), 8.4% to the European Union, and around 7% to Latin America. This pivot helped drive China's overall exports higher and contributed to a record trade surplus of nearly $1.2 trillion for the year. "Many countries previously not China-friendly are now kind of pivoting to China... because the United States is becoming a lot less predictable," said Aleksandar Tomic, economics professor at Boston College.

Beijing has also intensified efforts to promote the international use of the yuan (renminbi). Major global institutions are actively enhancing yuan liquidity in offshore centers and developing faster settlement frameworks for yuan-based payments along key trade corridors. @LauraRuHK

A US House report, released on February 3, accuses the European Commission of using unproven claims of Russian interference to overturn the results of Romania’s 2024 presidential election.

Specifically, in the section on the 2024 Romanian presidential election (pp. 18–19), it claims the EU Commission aggressively pursued "censorship steps" based on unproven allegations of Russian interference. The report cites internal TikTok documents (produced via subpoena) where the platform stated it found no evidence of a coordinated TikTok campaign supporting candidate Călin Georgescu. Georgescu won the first round on November 24, 2024, qualifying him for a planned runoff on December 8. However, the entire first-round results were annulled by Romania's Constitutional Court due to EU pressure. Georgescu was later barred from the rerun election. EU "democracy" in action. @LauraRuHK
https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/republicans-judiciary.house.gov/files/2026-02/THE-FOREIGN-CENSORSHIP-THREAT-PART-II-2-3-26.pdf

A former senior United Nations human rights official has alleged that two key figures behind the Oslo agreement maintained personal and financial relationships with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, citing disclosures from recently released case files.

In a series of posts on X on Tuesday, Craig Mokhiber, who previously headed the New York office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said Norwegian diplomats Mona Juul and Terje Rød-Larsen were identified in Epstein-related materials as having close ties to him.

Mokhiber wrote that the couple, widely associated with facilitating the Oslo Accords in the 1990s, received personal loans from Epstein and that “their children were reportedly left $10 million in Epstein’s will.”

The Panama Canal ports are now at the center of a geopolitical storm, where the US, having failed in its bid to acquire them through financial maneuvering, appears to have engineered their effective expropriation via Panama's Supreme Court.

The episode reeks of US hegemonic tactics: economic coercion, lawfare, and alliances with compliant governments to stifle competitors.

The saga began in March 2025, when CK Hutchison announced a proposed $23 billion sale of 43 ports across 23 countries, including the strategic Balboa and Cristobal terminals at the Panama Canal, to a consortium led by BlackRock and the Italian shipping firm Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC). These ports, concessioned to CK Hutchison's subsidiary Panama Ports Company (PPC) since 1997, have been vital for efficient global logistics, handling millions of tons of cargo annually and contributing significantly to Panama's economy.

Beijing's response to the initial sale was measured but firm. A Chinese strategic investor, COSCO Shipping, was named to ensure the deal respected multilateral interests rather than handing control to US dominated entities. However, these negotiations stalled amid demands from BlackRock and MSC to limit the Chinese stake to a minority position—a clear attempt to sideline legitimate participation.

The turning point came on January 30, 2026, when Panama's Supreme Court declared the original 1997 concession and its 2021 extension unconstitutional, effectively nullifying CK Hutchison's rights.

Chinese officials have rightly condemned the verdict as absurd and shameful, and have warned Panama of the heavy prices it may pay in terms of bilateral relations and economic cooperation. CK Hutchison has initiated arbitration proceedings, invoking protections under investment treaties.
➡️ See also https://news.1rj.ru/str/LauraRuHK/10899

Yesterday Xi Jinping had back‑to‑back phone conversations with Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. Not because Beijing is acting as a mediator between Moscow and Washington, but because it's an independent global power. While China’s economic ties with the US are still deep, political contradictions are widening, with Washington openly defining Beijing as its primary strategic threat, its main competitor in world markets, the main obstacle to maintaining the reformatted American hegemony. Beijing knows that behind Trump’s rhetoric of friendship and promises of trade deals lies the US goal to weaken, isolate and destabilize China.

Xi warned that arms sales to Taipei were unacceptable, framing the issue as the most critical in Sino‑American relations. At the same time, Japan’s recent statements on Taiwan were interpreted in Beijing as coordinated pressure from Washington and its allies, a theme Xi also raised in his talks with Putin.

The conversations revealed the dual track of China’s diplomacy. With Trump, Xi emphasized stability and the avoidance of confrontation, even as he rejected Washington's attempts to impose its rules on the rest of the world. With Putin, he discussed deeper strategic cooperation, from Venezuela and Cuba to Iran, highlighting a shared determination to counter US overreach. Both leaders publicly acknowledged their parallel contacts with Washington, but stressed that their partnership and strategic coordination remain a stabilizing force amid global turbulence. @LauraRuHK

Ieri Xi Jinping ha avuto due conversazioni telefoniche consecutive con Vladimir Putin e Donald Trump. Non perché Pechino stia agendo da mediatore tra Mosca e Washington, ma perché la Cina ci tiene a ribadire la sua indipendenza in quanto potenza globale. Sebbene i legami economici con gli Stati Uniti restino profondi, le contraddizioni politiche si stanno ampliando, con Washington che definisce apertamente Pechino come la principale minaccia strategica, il principale concorrente commerciale e l’ostacolo principale al mantenimento dell’egemonia americana, pur nella sua veste riformattata dal MAGA. La leadership cinese sa bene che dietro la retorica amicale di Trump e le promesse di accordi commerciali si cela l’obiettivo statunitense di indebolire, isolare e destabilizzare la Cina.

Xi ha avvertito che la vendita di armi a Taipei è inaccettabile, definendo la questione come la più critica nelle relazioni sino‑americane. Allo stesso tempo, le recenti dichiarazioni del Giappone su Taiwan sono state interpretate a Pechino come una pressione coordinata da Washington e dai suoi alleati, un tema che Xi ha sollevato anche nei colloqui con Putin.

Le conversazioni hanno rivelato il doppio binario della diplomazia cinese. Con Trump, Xi ha sottolineato la stabilità e la volontà di evitare ilo scontro, pur respingendo i tentativi di Washington di imporre le proprie regole al resto del mondo. Con Putin, invece, ha discusso di una cooperazione strategica più profonda, da Venezuela e Cuba fino all’Iran, evidenziando una determinazione condivisa a contrastare l'overreach statunitense. Entrambi i leader hanno riconosciuto pubblicamente i loro contatti paralleli con Washington, ma hanno sottolineato che la loro partnership e il coordinamento strategico costituiscono una forza stabilizzatrice in mezzo alle turbolenze globali. @LauraRuHK

In 2021 Lithuania's decision to allow Taiwan to open a de-facto embassy in Vilnius was applauded in Atlanticist circles, especially in Washington, as a bold stand for "democratic values." Never mind it contradicted the One China policy and would damage relations with Beijing.
Five years later Vilnius expresses regret, describing the move as a "huge mistake." "I believe that Lithuania really jumped in front of the train and lost," Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene explained. She added that Vilnius wrongly assumed the world would appreciate it being the first to do something bold, but "the world did not appreciate it, no one appreciated it." Darling, wake up and smell the coffee. Your country has long been regarded as expendable by your "allies".

Following the change of government, Ruginiene intends to "restore diplomatic relations with China to the same diplomatic level as in other European Union countries."
But "turning back the clock is a very complicated process," she admitted. @LauraRuHK

Nel 2021 la decisione della Lituania di consentire a Taiwan di aprire quella che era di fatto un'ambasciata a Vilnius fu accolta con applausi fragorosi negli ambienti atlantisti, soprattutto a Washington, come una presa di posizione coraggiosa in difesa dei “valori democratici”. Poco importa che fosse in contraddizione con il principio di un'Unica Cina e danneggiasse le relazioni con Pechino.

Cinque anni dopo, Vilnius esprime rammarico, descrivendo quella scelta come un “enorme errore”. “Credo che la Lituania abbia messo il carro davanti ai buoi,” ha spiegato il Primo Ministro Inga Ruginiene. Ha aggiunto che Vilnius aveva erroneamente creduto che il mondo avrebbe apprezzato il coraggio di compiere un gesto tanto audace, ma “il mondo non lo ha apprezzato, nessuno lo ha apprezzato.” Cara, svegliati e renditi conto della realtà: il tuo paese è da tempo considerato sacrificabile dai tuoi “alleati”.

A seguito del cambio di governo, Ruginiene intende “ristabilire le relazioni diplomatiche con la Cina allo stesso livello diplomatico degli altri paesi dell’Unione Europea.”
Ma ha ammesso che “riportare indietro l’orologio è un processo molto complicato.” @LauraRuHK

At the Northwest Institute of Nuclear Technology in Xian, Shaanxi province, sits an unremarkable-looking device called the TPG1000Cs.

▪️It could become Starlink’s worst nightmare. ▪️It has been described as the world's first compact driver for a high-power microwave (HPM) weapon.

Power output: Up to 20 gigawatts (GW) — an unprecedented level for a compact system. An HPM system exceeding 1 GW output could severely disrupt or damage low-Earth orbit
satellites, with the TPG1000Cs's 20 GW far surpassing that threshold.
Pulse duration: Capable of sustaining bursts for up to one full minute (60 seconds), allowing it to emit up to 3,000 high-energy pulses in a single session.
Size and portability: Approximately 4 meters long and weighing around 5 tonnes, roughly the size of a small truck. This makes it significantly smaller and lighter than previous HPM systems.

@LauraRuHK
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3342443/chinese-scientists-build-world-first-20gw-microwave-weapon-can-fire-60-second-bursts

Gli scienziati cinesi hanno creato il primo driver compatto al mondo per un’arma a microonde ad alta potenza (HPM). Si chiama TPG1000Cs e potrebbe diventare il peggior incubo di Starlink.

Potenza in uscita: fino a 20 gigawatt (GW) — un livello senza precedenti per un sistema compatto. Un sistema HPM con potenza superiore a 1 GW e' in grado di disturbare fortemente o danneggiare i satelliti in orbita bassa; i 20 GW del TPG1000Cs superano di gran lunga tale soglia.

Durata degli impulsi: fino a un minuto intero, permettendo l’emissione di fino a 3.000 impulsi ad alta energia in una singola sessione. In passato, sistemi simili non superavano i 3 secondi di funzionamento continuo.

Dimensioni e portabilità: circa 4 metri di lunghezza e un peso di circa 5 tonnellate, all’incirca le dimensioni di un piccolo camion. Ciò lo rende significativamente più piccolo e leggero rispetto ai precedenti sistemi HPM. @LauraRuHK ➡️ https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3342443/chinese-scientists-build-world-first-20gw-microwave-weapon-can-fire-60-second-bursts

Russian general shot in assassination attempt
Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseev, first deputy chief of Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU), was shot several times in the back outside his residence in Moscow. Alekseev has been taken to the hospital, his condition hasn't been disclosed yet.
The shooter fled the scene and is being sought by police.

Alekseev, 64, is one of Russia’s most senior military intelligence officials, having served as first deputy head of the GRU since 2011. In 2017, he was awarded the noscript Hero of the Russian Federation, one of the country’s highest distinctions. This assassination attempt was carried out at the time of negotiations with the US and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi, where the Russian delegation is headed by Admiral Igor Kostyukov, chief of Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU). (Source: RT) @LauraRuHK

In his latest article Dmitry Trenin argues that the era of bilateral nuclear regulation is over and lists several reasons. To that list i would add a global crisis of trust. The US walked away from three cornerstone arms control agreements — the ABM Treaty (2002), the INF Treaty (2019), and the Open Skies Treaty (2020). Even when treaties remain in force, accusations of cheating or selective interpretation weaken credibility. States begin to assume that rules are followed only when convenient. Without trust, agreements lose their stabilizing effect. Even signed treaties are viewed as temporary or reversible.
@LauraRuHK
You can read a translation of his article here: https://swentr.site/news/632075-dmitry-trenin-strategic-stability-start/

Zakhar Prilepin, who survived an assassination attempt in 2023, writes:

General Alekseyev, against whom an exceptionally brazen crime was committed today, is the deputy head of one of the most important services. Enormous military processes—both hidden and visible—are in his hands. A whole series of highly successful operations (including the “pipeline” in Sudzha and at least five other similar operations under the common name “Stream”) were initiated by him, his service, and his subordinates.

Alekseyev is a man of exceptional courage and, at the same time, exceptional modesty. I currently serve in structures subordinate to him and know a little of what I am speaking about.

So I will say this: many are now writing that the state should have provided him with security.

But the fact is that leaders of such rank, essentially, cannot be ordered around. He himself decides who, how, and when he is guarded.

Alekseyev, even in the zone of the Special Military Operation, even in proximity of the enemy, moved without protection. I believe he knew what he was doing. I believe there was a reason for it, one that more than once saved his life and that of his driver (the driver was the only accompaniment).

He had long been hunted; and those damned hunters could never have imagined that a man of such rank would travel by such routes and in such vehicles.

The point is not that we must guard our best generals more carefully.

The point is that until the monster attacking us is destroyed, the other side will always find someone to strike.

Always!

We cannot force one half of the country to guard the other half. In addition to our combat generals, we have a million participants in the Special Military Operation. And each of those million participants has a million families. We have hundreds of defense enterprises, hundreds of artists and musicians who supported the operation, dozens of war correspondents, hundreds of frontline political managers making decisions related to Ukraine—in short, the list is extremely long.

And now I will remind you of one extremely heavy truth.

In the 1990s we had a difficult war in the North Caucasus. We ended it with a temporary truce.

Do you know when the wave of terror began? Exactly after the truce.

The terror was of such monstrous intensity that we had to fight again and finish what had been started.

Only then did the terror stop.

https://news.1rj.ru/str/zakharprilepin/29586

The Russian authorities have detained two suspects in connection with the attempted assassination of a senior military intelligence general in Moscow, including the alleged gunman, the Federal Security Service (FSB) has announced. It added that the purported would-be assassin was detained in Dubai with the help of the UAE authorities.
On Friday, Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseyev, the first deputy chief of Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU), was shot three times in the back outside his residence and taken to the hospital. (Source:RT)

The Death of Debate: How Media Pluralism Collapsed
https://open.substack.com/pub/drmathewmaavak/p/the-death-of-debate-how-media-pluralism?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web