Culture
Books, profiles, reviews, and ways to hold a sentence while everything speeds up.
PORTRAIT: Putin Facing His Own Price Cap, a Strategic Reading
On June 26, 2026, Vladimir Putin signed a decree extending a measure through the end of 2027, according to Interfax. This seemingly technical gesture indirectly responds to Western mechanisms for capping the price of…
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To the 144 Drones That Flew Over Our NATO…
I am writing today to you, leaders of NATO, defense ministers…
£4.6 Billion for the GCAP Fighter, the West Accelerates
Dear engineers, dear decision-makers of the United Kingdom, Italy, and Japan,…
DECODING: Hegseth conditions US troops: the Eastern Flank held…
On June 18, 2026, in the conference room at NATO headquarters…
PORTRAIT: Kevin Warsh Took the Fed as Lisa Cook…
PORTRAIT: Cameron Hamilton Wins FEMA Confirmation in a 51–47…
PORTRAIT: AFRICOM’s Sahel Blind Spot Has a Deadline: 15…
PORTRAIT: Moorea’s 349 Corals Show Evolution Moving Before the…
PORTRAIT: Iran’s 3.2 Million Displacement Claim Meets an UNHCR…
PORTRAIT: Todd Blanche Won 50–49 — and the Justice…
PORTRAIT: ORZEYFUL Wins FDA Approval, but the DEA Still…
PORTRAIT: Julia Nesheiwat’s Arctic Post Is New. Her Senate…
PORTRAIT: Rustem Umerov Keeps Washington Talks While Taking Ukraine’s…
PORTRAIT: Berkshire’s $25.667 Billion Quarter Was Built on Investments,…
PORTRAIT: After 18 Months Without a Comptroller, the Pentagon…
PORTRAIT: Two Bronze Figurines Reopen an Etruscan Ritual at…
PORTRAIT: Elon Musk’s $802 Billion Fortune Moves With One…
PORTRAIT: Lev Kyshakevych Faces the ICC Test in French…
PORTRAIT: 11,000 Troops and a Broken Tradition Mark Abelardo…
PORTRAIT: Gaza’s Weekend Death Toll Is Four Different Numbers,…
The August 1–2, 2026 weekend is reported as 19 dead on…
PORTRAIT: America’s Farmer Has a $12 Billion Bridge—and China…
On December 8, 2025, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced $12…
PORTRAIT: Powell Is Gone. Warsh Held at 3.50% While…
On 29 July 2026, the FOMC kept its target range at…
PORTRAIT: Erica Schwartz Takes the CDC With 51 Votes…
On August 5, 2026, the Senate confirmed Dr. Erica Schwartz as…
ESSAY: Milei Can Deport for “Hate,” but the Word…
On July 30, 2026, Javier Milei signed an emergency decree allowing…
PORTRAIT: Lula's Fourth Run Hangs on a One-Point Margin
On August 2, 2026, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, 80, launched…
PORTRAIT: Japan Fires Its First Tomahawk, and Pyongyang Leaves…
On July 29, 2026, the Japanese destroyer JS Chokai conducted Japan’s…
PORTRAIT: Russia’s Refining System Is Down to 3.6 Million…
Russian oil refining fell to 3.6 million barrels per day in…
PORTRAIT: The Geran-2 Is Adapting. Ukraine Says It Is…
Geran-2 The Russian Geran-2 is acquiring new electronic defences, mesh-radio control,…
PORTRAIT: Kyiv Took 51 Ballistic Missiles. Patriot Needed Its…
On August 1, 2026, Ukrainian air defences reportedly intercepted one of…
ESSAY: Booker Prize 2026, 13 novels shortlisted from 163,…
PORTRAIT: Fired 54 Minutes After His Oath, He Is…
Fifty-four minutes. That is how long Roger Rogoff held the job…
PORTRAIT: Golden Dome, Decoding a Program Told in Three…
Some programs are best understood not as a single announcement but…
AI-generatedPORTRAIT: Washington Sanctions Rosneft and Lukoil, the Questions Few…
On October 22, 2025, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on…
PORTRAIT: Lukoil, the Oil Giant Washington Wants to Dismantle
On October 22, 2025, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Lukoil alongside…
AI-generatedPORTRAIT: Decoding American military space in three movements
A military budget is never read in a single glance; it…
PORTRAIT: the NDAA 2026 and its $800 million for…
Eight hundred million dollars, buried inside a nine-hundred-billion-dollar bill, can travel…
AI-generatedPORTRAIT: PURL, the American mechanism that mobilized 21 allies…
The PURL mechanism — Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List — has mobilized…
AI-generatedPORTRAIT: the chip war intensifies, the context we keep…
Two measures, two capitals, a single battlefield: semiconductors. This portrait retraces…
AI-generatedPORTRAIT: field notes on the Chinese coast guard east…
On July 5, 2026, Beijing announced new coast guard patrols off…
PORTRAIT: Where things stand on Starved of Silicon
On June 22, 2026, China added ten American companies to its…
AI-generatedPORTRAIT: the chip war intensifies between Washington and Beijing
A legislative proposal. A targeted response. A budget that confirms priorities.…
PORTRAIT: China's coast guard east of Taiwan and the…
Some institutions have names that sound unremarkable, yet their deployment can…
AI-generatedPORTRAIT: Starved of Silicon, China Builds Its Own Supply…
China added ten American companies to its export control list on…
AI-generatedPORTRAIT: Lithuania in Three Movements, From the Number to…
Some countries make headlines through crisis. Lithuania, in the summer of…
AI-generatedPORTRAIT: $90 Billion More, the Questions Rarely Asked
Since 2024, European allies and Canada have increased their defense spending…
PORTRAIT: taking stock of the Netherlands and its pioneering…
The Netherlands does not always draw the same attention as larger…
PORTRAIT: Decoding the 5%-of-GDP target in three acts
Five percent of GDP devoted to defense by 2035: that is…
AI-generatedPORTRAIT: The Baltic drone wall, the questions few outlets…
A drone wall estimated at roughly one billion euros is set…