Russia

Why Russia and North Korea Are Getting Closer

When Vladimir Putin arrived in Pyongyang in June 2024, he and Kim Jong Un signed a treaty that promised more than friendly declarations. It bound their governments to military and other assistance if either were subjected to armed invasion,…

Putin, Russia and the New Network Around North Korea

The train is the telling detail. North Korean ammunition leaves the port of Rajin, crosses the short border into Russia, then travels by rail toward depots nearer the war in Ukraine. A shipment that begins on one isolated peninsula becomes…

The U.S. and China Are Talking Again. What Actually Changed?

In September, presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping met at the White House amid ceremonial pageantry and the familiar list of hard questions: tariffs, chips, rare-earth minerals, Taiwan and artificial intelligence. The clearest result was…

Why Japan Matters More Than Most People Realize

When people talk about a crisis around Taiwan, the focus tends to land on Taiwan itself, China, and Washington. But the map tells a wider story. Japan’s southwestern islands sit near Taiwan and the East China Sea; U.S. forces operate from b…

The Epstein Files: What Do the Documents Actually Tell Us?

The first thing to know about the Epstein files is that they are not one file, and they are not a verified list of perpetrators. They are a sprawling collection of records from criminal investigations, court proceedings, custody reviews, an…

Why African language models need local infrastructure

English-first stacks break on tone, code-switching, and low-resource languages. The fix is infrastructure, not another fine-tune.