Has there ever been a Nobel peace prize winner like Machado? Earlier this week she was on Capitol Hill lobbying the U.S. to overthrow the government of her country, now she's lobbying Israel for more war with Iran. Maybe there should be a Nobel War Prize.

Putin responding to a question from @lieven_anatol on U.S. provision of Tomahawks to Ukraine. Tomahawks would not turn the tide on the battlefield but would make diplomacy far more difficult. They would mark a turn toward resuming the Biden policy of "as long as it takes".

But if there is no heating this winter, people will flock to Poland in millions, not thousands. The question to governments like Poland’s is always the same: Do you want to achieve what’s best and feasible for Ukrainians in given circumstances or do you want them to die for

Rather amazing that Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado is an advocate of U.S. military action against her country. Maybe Trump can win the prize next year after invading Venezuela at the request of this year's winnner.

China announces export controls on rare earths for a wide range of potentially military applications, including *all* chips under 14 nm. A major escalation in the "chip war" the U.S. began under Biden -- a move likely to be remembered as an epic policy backfire.

Senator Coons gets at the heart of the war powers issue, which can seem dry and legalistic. If we ignore the legal demarcation of war powers and the role of Congress, the result is that the President as the commander of the military gets to kill anyone any time for any reason.

From former IDF soldier Shaiel Ben-Ephraim

We remember October 7th as one of the darkest days in Palestinian history, not as Hamas and their supporters try to glorify it. It was not a day of “resistance” or “victory,” but the day when Hamas carried out its brutal attack, and Israel unleashed a campaign of annihilation

Tomahawks to Ukraine are a desperation move. Ukrainian air defense capacities are being overwhelmed. Without a way to fix that the hope is offensive missiles would cause the Russians to back down - but that will lead to escalation instead. Negotiation is still the right path.

This is very sinister stuff. ICE accosted a father of two with no criminal record while he was dropping his kids off at day care, then executed him when he tried to drive away. We're all in danger if this kind of thing becomes routine.

The highly technical issue of GDP measurement -- purchasing power parity (PPP) vs nominal dollar -- is now of absolutely first order importance for understanding global power. As this chart shows, under PPP China is a dominant economic force. Under nominal dollar measurement,

Rules of engagement are how you prevent wars from turning into free-fire zones with wholesale killing of civilians. Beyond the moral issue, there is a strategic one. In Vietnam and Afghanistan indiscriminate killing fed successful resistance movements.

The EU continues to have opposition leaders and parties banned from the ballot in the name of "saving democracy." (And when they neglect to do that because they didn't realize the opposition candidate would win, they just cancel and re-do the election, as in Romania):

The political fix is in on the Tik-Tok sale, details from @KelleyBVlahos

This statement about a perfectly straightforward political claim by Governor Newsom -- that the Administration is taking authoritarian actions -- shows why blurring the crucial distinction between speech and action is such a mistake (and a favorite move of authoritarians)

National security demands we protect our domestic supplies of bathroom vanities, kitchen cabinets, and upholstered furniture. Surely this is the most ridiculous the obsession with seeing everything as a matter of national security can get?

From the Russian Foreign Ministry today on Rubio-Lavrov talks at the UN meetings. Doesn't sound like diplomacy is dead.

The highly technical issue of GDP measurement -- purchasing power parity (PPP) vs nominal dollar -- is now of absolutely first order importance for understanding global power. As this chart shows, under PPP China is a dominant economic force. Under nominal dollar measurement,

John Mearsheimer gives his view on Trump's seeming endorsement of an expanded Ukraine war yesterday. Seeing many make a similar claim that this is Trump walking away from the conflict rather than making a renewed U.S. commitment. Zelensky doesn't seem to see it that way...

Huge numbers now outraged by the FCC's Kimmel threats were happy when Biden/Dems threatened Big Tech to ban dissent. Whichever is worse, they share the same rotted principle (yet many conservatives condemned the FCC and Bondi, while almost no liberals opposed Biden's scheme).