Cultivating resistance
The US, the EU, Japan, China, Thailand, Cambodia, Yemen, and Benin.
Hello,
Here are the five things you need to know today:
UNITED STATES. EUROPE. Threats of active measures expose ugly truths.
JAPAN. CHINA. Tokyo risks getting locked into an escalation ladder.
THAILAND. CAMBODIA. A phony war reignites on cue.
YEMEN. An escalation is less about the Houthis than the Saudis.
BENIN. A would-be coup hits a nuclear access point.
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UNITED STATES. EUROPE. Agent orange
Threats of active measures expose ugly truths.
Washington urged EU states to stop following Brussels’ “undemocratic and unrepresentative bureaucracy.” Paris said it would not “engage in a Twitter battle”. Moscow said the new US National Security Strategy “corresponded” with its views.
INTELLIGENCE. Europe has been aghast at Friday’s NSS, which, to many, resembles a Kremlin paper as much as the Witkoff-Dmitriev 28-point plan. Indeed, Moscow released its own National Security Policy the week before, with similar musings on “state-forming” nationalities and “spiritual and moral values”. Such sentiments have long been known, but their codification is what’s shocking. US threats to leave NATO no longer seem rhetorical but realistic.
FOR BUSINESS. The NSS is already being operationalised in response to a $120 million EU fine on X (Twitter), which Marco Rubio called an “attack on the American people”. Eurocrats, wanting to preserve a fragile trade truce, may be minded to yield, and wait out a distracted administration, but perceived weakness could embolden anti-US populists on the left, which could be even more disruptive to NATO than the hard-right voices the US now claims to champion.
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JAPAN. CHINA. Moving target
Tokyo risks getting locked into an escalation ladder.
Tokyo summoned China’s ambassador after PLA jets locked radars on Japanese aircraft. Around 100 flights originated from a Chinese carrier near Okinawa over the weekend. Japan was “frustrated” at US silence, the Financial Times said.
INTELLIGENCE. China is trying to goad Japan into a response so it can then increase