Bracing piece on Chinese vs. US diplomacy. I don't entirely agree with the conclusions (it's not all about the money), but two key points: 1) domestic partisanship is undermining US diplomacy, and 2) US lacks a diplomatic (and economic) strategy for great power competition.

Congrats to Rishi Sunak. Great to see a forty-something Indian son of immigrants being chosen to lead his country, though it does make me wonder what I am doing with my life.

1 \ Ukraine’s president Volodomir Zelensky suggested at the Haaretz.com conference that Russia will help Iran’s nuclear program in return to Iran providing Russia with drones and missiles for its war in Ukraine

UAE open to China AI despite U.S. concerns: minister asia.nikkei.com/Editor-s-Picks…

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman likely to visit India next month en route to G20 business-standard.com/article/curren…

Bracing piece on Chinese vs. US diplomacy. I don't entirely agree with the conclusions (it's not all about the money), but two key points: 1) domestic partisanship is undermining US diplomacy, and 2) US lacks a diplomatic (and economic) strategy for great power competition.

Lies, damned lies, and statistics. I have updated this Bloomberg Opinion chart with fresh data.

China imported a record of ~1 million b/d of Malaysian crude in Sept. That's nearly **double** the real output of Malaysia.

The reality? Re-branding of Russian, Iranian and Venezuelan oil.

Iran’s support for Putin’s illegal war in Ukraine is further proof of its destabilising role in global security.

We are sanctioning the suppliers of drones used for the cowardly strikes on civilian targets and critical infrastructure in Ukraine.  

gov.uk/government/new…

This is great!

Great 🧵

A broad majority of Americans--left, right, and center--support continued aid to help #Ukraine️ defend itself from Russia's brutal invasion

NEW: We can confirm that Russian military personnel based in Crimea have been piloting Iranian UAVs, using them to conduct strikes across Ukraine including strikes against Kyiv in recent days - John Kirby, NSC

One of the fallacies regarding China in the Middle East is that it is only significant as an economic actor. As my colleague Grant Rumley points out in this report, China's security presence in the region is longstanding, and growing.

Great Power Competition is not just in #Asia and #Europe -- as my Washington Institute colleague Grant Rumley explains in this timely, insightful essay on #China 's regional security presence, the #MiddleEast is very much a GPC theater, too. info.washingtoninstitute.org/acton/rif/1996…

As I noted earlier, Tehran's provision of arms to Russia is going to have a long-term impact on how Europeans see Iran.

Exclusive: Iran agrees to ship missiles, more drones to Russia, defying the West reuters.com/world/exclusiv…

Punting to Congress is not the right approach - the executive branch is responsible for foreign policy, and the President needs to exercise responsible ownership of the US-Saudi relationship.

Interesting polling on US-German relations that mostly tells of a strengthening alliance, despite a divergence on the perception of China as a threat. Noteworthy that 74% of Germans support using military to support allies. pewresearch.org/global/2022/10…