iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Wen-Ti Sung

Daniel Drezner @dandrezner.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

Slightly diminish a book Meh Expectations

Wen-Ti Sung @wentisung.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

I wrote a piece for @Atlantic Council dispatches on Taiwan's KMT chairperson Cheng Li-wun's visit to Beijing, and what implication it may have for Taiwanese politics, US arms sales, and the upcoming Trump-Xi summit. www.atlanticcouncil.org/dispatches/w...

atlanticcouncil.org

What the Taiwanese opposition leader’s recent China visit means for Taipei, Beijing, and Washington

Cheng Li-wun recently visited Beijing and met with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the first time a Kuomintang chair has traveled to China in a decade.

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Wen-Ti Sung @wentisung.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

We did a Taiwan Talks show on Myanmar's 'sham election', to discuss its electoral integrity, China's stakes in Burmese politics, and future of 🇲🇲 democracy movement With me were - Burmese scholar Nini Peng, - Soe Myint, co-founder of @mizzimadailynews.substack.com. www.youtube.com/watch?v=tT2f...

youtube.com

Myanmar’s Junta Holds Dubious Vote With China’s Support as Civil War Rages On|Taiwan Talks EP771

YouTube video by Taiwan Talks

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Wen-Ti Sung @wentisung.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

Great to talk about the significance of the latest scoop re onset of a US-Taiwan JFCC ("Joint Firepower Coordination Center") for Taiwan Plus. In discussion with me were 2 defense experts, Kitsch Liao, and Bryce Barros. - Blue-on-Blue - Deep Strike + Deterrence - Defense-Industrial cooperation

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Wen-Ti Sung @wentisung.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

We recorded a talk show to discuss Canada-China reset amid rupture in US' relations with traditional friends and allies, from Taiwan's perspective. Charles Wu, Ronan Fu, and I explored the scope for middle power strategic autonomy & rebalancing btw US-China today. www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgFP...

youtube.com

Canada, China Boosts Economic Ties Amid ‘Rupture’ in US-Led Alliance | Taiwan Talks EP 767

YouTube video by Taiwan Talks

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Wen-Ti Sung @wentisung.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

I wrote about #Taiwan’s anxiety and opportunity as it reacts to the new U.S. National Defense Strategy, for the Atlantic Council. The NDS 2026 does not mention Taiwan even once. But when life gives you lemons, it’s time to make lemonade. www.atlanticcouncil.org/dispatches/w...

atlanticcouncil.org

What the Indo-Pacific thinks of the new US National Defense Strategy

Our Indo-Pacific experts share how US allies and partners in the region are reacting to the United States’ latest National Defense Strategy, which calls for them to take on a more active role in their...

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Max Boot @maxboot.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

Two global trading houses that brokered an opaque deal with the Trump admin this month to sell Venezuelan oil were previously prosecuted for bribery schemes involving oil sales elsewhere… A senior trader at Vitol donated $6 million to Trump’s 2024 election. www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

washingtonpost.com

Trump officials awarded Venezuela oil-sale contracts to firms tied to bribery

The Trump administration awarded $500 million in contracts for Venezuelan oil sales to two firms with a history of bribery and corruption.

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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 29/12/2025

"Following the Ukraine-US meeting, Trump lauded Putin, saying the Russian president “wants to see Ukraine succeed”. This is becoming farcical giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... via @FT

giftarticle.ft.com

Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy talks fail to deliver breakthrough on Ukraine peace deal

US president says ‘thorny’ issues remain on ending Europe’s biggest land war in 80 years

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eileen chengyin chow @chowleen.bsky.social · 07/12/2025

You must react everyday to what is happening. But that is no way to write a book or a sentence. -James Baldwin, intv w Joe Walker, 1972

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Wen-Ti Sung @wentisung.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

A solid majority (60%) of Americans now support direct US military commitment in the defense of #Taiwan, the latest 2025 Reagan National Defense Survey finds. That's up from 48% just a year ago. www.reaganfoundation.org/reagan-insti...

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Wen-Ti Sung @wentisung.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

China's ongoing military purge is devastating its Navy and South China Sea forces, and fueling more grayzone coercion across South & Southeast Asias. Last week China's 3rd aircraft carrier the 'Fujian' officially entered service in Hainan Province, the closest province to maritime SE Asia. /1🧵

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Wen-Ti Sung @wentisung.bsky.social · 18/08/2025

US used to rally allies to deter China together. Like Antony Blinken used to say, they "approached China from a position of strength (in numbers)". Now Europeans rush to accompany Zellensky as he meets Trump, also to help him "approach Trump from a position of strength" www.bbc.com/news/article...

bbc.com

European leaders rush to US to help Ukraine avoid 'capitulation’

The heads of state hope to stop Trump from threatening long-term European security, writes James Landale.

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Chris Horton 何貴森 @heguisen.bsky.social · 02/06/2025

Publication Day for Ghost Nation is July 17 - now only 45 days away. Pre-order today and be among the first to read Taiwan's story, as told by many of the people who have shaped this inspiring and vitally important country. www.panmacmillan.com/authors/chri...

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Wen-Ti Sung @wentisung.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

Big news re Shangri-La Dialogue 2025: For the first time since 2019, Chinese Defense Minister will not be attending. China is allowing SLD25 to become US DefSec Pete Hegeseth’s one-man show, and it'll be a missed opportunity for US-China to stabilize ties amid uncertainty. Why? /1

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Wen-Ti Sung @wentisung.bsky.social · 06/05/2025

Pleasure to do a show with my esteemed colleague and friend, Charles Wu, to discuss #Japan’s balancing act between Beijing and Washington, starting with Japanese PM Ishiba’s recent Southeast Asian charm offensive. www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAsM...

youtube.com

Tokyo Walks Tightrope between Washington and Beijing | Taiwan Talks EP621

YouTube video by Taiwan Talks

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 04/05/2025

WELKER: Your secretary of state says everyone who's here, citizens and non-citizens, deserve due process. Do you agree? TRUMP: I don't know. I'm not a lawyer. I don't know. WELKER: Don't you need to uphold the Constitution? TRUMP: I don't know

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Michael Pettis @michaelpettis.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

1/6 As always, the idea that countries like Japan can use their massive holdings of US Treasuries as "leverage" in trade talks is a fantasy. For decades we have heard similar warnings from other countries, and yet no one ever uses this leverage. www.ft.com/content/912f...

ft.com

Japan says US Treasury holdings could be ‘card’ in trade talks

Finance minister Katsunobu Kato hints that country’s more than $1tn in Treasuries gives it leverage in negotiations

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Wen-Ti Sung @wentisung.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

I gave some comments to @BBC on how Trump and Xi Jinping can find ways to re-engage and rein in the trade war. Neither side is going to get 100% of what they want. So finding an off-ramp while preserving face requires both sides to be willing to show some degree of constructive ambiguity. 🧵 /1

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Dexter Tiff Roberts @dtiffroberts.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

"and seek dialogue based on equality, respect and mutual benefit,” Guo added. “Any claims about the progress of China-US trade negotiations are groundless as trying to catch the wind and have no factual basis,” the Commerce Ministry said the same day. open.substack.com/pub/dexter/p/t

open.substack.com

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WIRED @wired.com · 30/04/2025

SCOOP: A young man with no government experience who hasn’t even finished his undergrad degree is working for Elon Musk’s DOGE at the Department of Housing and Urban Development and has been tasked with using AI to rewrite the agency’s rules and regulations.

wired.com

DOGE Put a College Student in Charge of Using AI to Rewrite Regulations

A DOGE operative has been tasked with using AI to propose rewrites to the Department of Housing and Urban Development's regulations—an effort sources are told will roll out across government.

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Brian Stelter @brianstelter.bsky.social · 29/04/2025

Live streams of Canadian election night coverage: CBC: youtube.com/watch?v=SATB... CTV: youtube.com/watch?v=kWUG... Global News: youtube.com/watch?v=tHOF...

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Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

Bluesky does not suppress posts with external links like X, and there is a massive difference in engagement on posts with external links between the two apps. Elon wants you to stay on X and never leave.

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Wen-Ti Sung @wentisung.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

How to circumvent Trump's tariffs against Chinese goods that are "Made in China":

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Michael Pettis @michaelpettis.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

1/8 This Caixin article summarizes various proposals by Chinese academics on how to respond to Trump's tariffs. Most of these proposals focus on boosting domestic demand, but some involve expanding "free-trade" relationships with other countries, which... www.caixinglobal.com/2025-04-18/i...

caixinglobal.com

In Depth: How China Can Counter Trump’s Tariffs

Analysts recommend expanding fiscal deficits and directing funds to boost household spending and public services, while also seeking global alliances

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Michael Pettis @michaelpettis.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

5/5 Either we need a trading regime in which countries don't compete by suppressing domestic demand, or one in which the US (and the UK and Canada) stop accommodating global savings imbalances through their open financial markets.

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Wen-Ti Sung @wentisung.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

China Raises Tariffs on U.S. Imports to 125%, matching Trump's move from a day ago, and claims it will ignore any further increases announced by Trump from here. What's happening? China is trying to do 3 things: /1

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Wen-Ti Sung @wentisung.bsky.social · 09/04/2025

The irony. #China holds top-level "Periphery Working Conference" today to build economic ties with its neighbors (mainly Central & SE Asian) to consolidate its backyard. Meanwhile US is alienating its own backyard, by antagonizing Canada & Mexico in ways not seen in over 100 yrs.

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Helen Davidson @heldavidson.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

China and the US are "locked into a game of chicken" with tariffs and counter tariffs, said @wentisung.bsky.social . “Like two race cars driving directly toward each other, whoever swerves first will stand to lose prestige and profit". www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

theguardian.com

China vows to ‘fight to the end’ against latest Trump tariff threat

Beijing accuses US of blackmail and adding a ‘mistake on top of a mistake’ as Wednesday deadline for latest levies looms

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Wen-Ti Sung @wentisung.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

Trump has threatened #China with an extra 50% tariff. US and China are locked in a game of chicken, like 2 race cars driving directly toward each other, whoever swerves first will stand to lose prestige and profit. What is China thinking at the moment? /1 🧵

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Wen-Ti Sung @wentisung.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

I am quoted in @nytimes.com, re China holding live-fire military drills near Taiwan, code-named "Strait Thunder 2025-A". China is trying to test US support for Taiwan. If US defaults back to a transactionalist noncommittal posture, it will instill US-skepticism among US friends.../1

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Vivian Wu 吳薇 @vivianwu.bsky.social · 16/03/2025

价值观的完整统一，立场的清晰稳定，知行合一，能够坚持敦厚善良仁义正直，不见利就上不知难而退，不慕强不趋炎附势，不首鼠两端，不过于精明算计，养吾浩然正气。此之为人。

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Australian Journal of International Affairs @austjia.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

🚨New online! @brendanktaylor.bsky.social queries the narrative that Australia has resigned itself to being a dependent ally of the U.S in "Australian agency and the China-US contest for supremacy". ⬇️ #openaccess #academicpublishing #internationalrelations #Australia tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10....

ABSTRACT
This article revisits the widely held assumption that small and
middle powers lose substantial agency during periods of strategic
competition and hegemonic (re)ordering. Focusing on Australia’s
foreign policy over the past decade and a half, it also challenges
the prevailing narrative that Canberra has resigned itself to the
role of a ‘Dependent Ally’ of the United States amidst intensifying
Sino-American rivalry. Instead, the article finds evidence of
significant agency, as Australia has resisted and, in some cases,
shaped signature coalition-building initiatives advanced by both
powers, including the Obama administration’s pivot/rebalance to
Asia, China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and Asian Infrastructure
Investment Bank (AIIB), and the US-led Quad 2.0 and AUKUS.
Drawing on Australia’s three dominant foreign policy traditions −
the ‘Dependent Ally,’ ‘Middle Power,’ and ‘Pragmatic’ schools of
thought − the article argues that Australia has consistently
incorporated all three traditions rather than simply relying upon
the supposedly dominant ‘Dependent Ally’ approach. Through
this lens, Australia emerges not as a passive actor at the mercy of
external powers but as a strategically-significant player capable of
influencing the evolving regional order. Such findings challenge prevailing assumptions about Australian foreign policy and broader middle power behaviour. Keywords: Australia-China relations; ANZUS; Australian foreign policy; geopolitics; middle power

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Wen-Ti Sung @wentisung.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

China's MFA being #SchrodingersCat? 3/4 "If war is what the U.S. wants, be it a tariff war, a trade war or any other type of war, we’re #ready to fight till the end” 3/6 "Whatever kind of war it is, a tariff war or a trade war, a cold war or a hot war, they should #not be fought and cannot be won"

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Wen-Ti Sung @wentisung.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

"What's the point anymore of questioning whether China is partial towards Russia? If that is a problem for people, they should first go criticize America. Because now America is not only partial to, but actively supports, Russia. Am I right?" - China's special envoy for Europe, #LuShaye

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William Yang @williamyang120.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

In light of the changes in foreign policy that the U.S. has implemented since President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January, @wentisung.bsky.social said China will try to “project an image of continuity and certainty” in terms of foreign policy during the Two Sessions.

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Dannagal Goldthwaite Young @dannagal.bsky.social · 02/03/2025

As a chronically anxious perfectionist, I always feel that I come up short, that I could & should do more & be better. I've always envied my husband who just *does not* do this. Last night, (after 15 years of marriage), he explained his secret: "It's "W.A.R"" he said, "Wins Above Replacement." 🧵

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Mark Harrison @mhar4.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

Really delighted to have had the chance to talk to Anthony Kao for the @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social podcast with my co-author @catielila.bsky.social about our book "Revolutionary Taiwan: Making nationhood in a changing world order". newbooksnetwork.com/revolutionar...

newbooksnetwork.com

Catherine Lila Chou and Mark Harrison, "Revolutionary Taiwan: Making Nationhood in a Changing World Order" (Cambria Press, 2024) - New Books Network

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Wen-Ti Sung @wentisung.bsky.social · 22/02/2025

We did a show on Australia-China relations of late, including on why China's PLA is holding military exercises near AUS, plus China-NZ-Cook Islands ties. I was mainly just happy that I got to drop a reference to Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War on TV. www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7F4...

youtube.com

Australia 'Alarmed' by Chinese Warships and 'Unsafe' Jet Flare | Taiwan Talks EP569

YouTube video by Taiwan Talks

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eileen chengyin chow @chowleen.bsky.social · 15/02/2025

A kiss on the forehead-erases misery. I kiss your forehead. A kiss on the eyes-lifts sleeplessness. I kiss your eyes. A kiss on the lips-is a drink of water. I kiss your lips. A kiss on the forehead-erases memory. -Marina Tsvetaeva t. @ilyakaminsky.bsky.social /Jean Valentine #everynightapoem

A red leaf (lip-like) resting on a brick sidewalk

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Stephen Walt @stephenwalt.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

Starting to see a pattern: Trump makes some stupid threats; others offer trivial concessions; Trump declares (sham) victory; underlying problems remain unsolved. Next phase: others start making alternative arrangements and renege, knowing his attention span is short, & some of them call his bluff.

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Dexter Tiff Roberts @dtiffroberts.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

"During Trump’s first-term, Beattie worked as a speech writer but was fired in 2018 after attending a conference with White nationalists. Two year later, Trump appointed to him to the Commission for the Preservation of American Heritage Abroad." www.newsbreak.com/mediaite-520...

newsbreak.com

Rubio Appoints MAGA Star Darren Beattie to Key Role at State Department - NewsBreak

Secretary of State Marco Rubio appointed hardline MAGA personality Darren Beattie to a top role at the State Department, according to Semafor. The post Ru

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Daniel Drezner @dandrezner.bsky.social · 01/02/2025

“For the typical American household, the tariffs will mean a loss of about $1,200 in purchasing power, according to the Budget Lab at Yale University, a nonpartisan research center.” www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

washingtonpost.com

Trump signs order imposing tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China

American importers will pay a new 25-percent tax on goods from Canada and Mexico and a 10-percent levy on products from China.

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Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 02/02/2025

Here comes China's retaliatory tariffs.

China's Ministry of Commerce issued a statement on Sunday saying that China will file a legal case against the United States at the World Trade Organization. The ministry also said China "will take corresponding countermeasures to firmly safeguard its rights and interests."
4 minutes ago
Keith Bradsher Reporting from Beijing
The W.T.O. has lost much of its ability to handle legal cases as the United States has blocked the appointment of appellate judges since President Trump's first term. But a W.T.O. case could still help China rally international opinion against the United States.

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Daniel Drezner @dandrezner.bsky.social · 02/02/2025

“If we have tit-for-tat retaliation, whether it's 25% tariff (or) 60% and we go to where we were in the 1930s we're going to see double-digit global GDP losses. That's catastrophic. Everyone will pay.” WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala last week. www.reuters.com/markets/trad...

reuters.com

Trade wars sparked by Trump tariffs would be 'catastrophic', WTO chief says

The World Trade Organization chief said on Thursday that any tit-for-tat trade wars prompted by U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff threats would have catastrophic consequences for global growth, urging states to refrain from retaliation.

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Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 26/01/2025

Colombian President Gustavo Petro's full post ordering an increase of import tariffs on U.S. goods, says he doesn't really like traveling to the U.S. because it's “a bit boring” and invokes the ancestors

Trump, I don't really like travelling to the US, it's a bit boring, but I confess that there are some commendable things. I like going to the black neighbourhoods of Washington, where I saw an entire fight in the US capital between blacks and Latinos with barricades, which seemed like nonsense to me, because they should join together.

I confess that I like Walt Whitman and Paul Simon and Noam Chomsky and Miller

I confess that Sacco and Vanzetti, who have my blood, are memorable in the history of the USA and I follow them. They were murdered by labor leaders with the electric chair, the fascists who are within the USA as well as within my country

I don't like your oil, Trump, you're going to wipe out the human species because of greed. Maybe one day, over a glass of whiskey, which I accept, despite my gastritis, we can talk frankly about this, but it's difficult because you consider me an inferior race and I'm not, nor is any Colombian.

So if you know someone who is stubborn, that's me, period. You can try to carry out a coup with your economic strength and your arrogance, like they did with Allende. But I will die in my law, I resisted torture and I resist you. I don't want slavers next to Colombia, we already had many and we freed ourselves. What I want next to Colombia are lovers of freedom. If you can't accompany me, I'll go elsewhere. Colombia is the heart of the world and you didn't understand that, this is the land of the yellow butterflies, of the beauty of Remedios, but also of the colonels Aureliano Buendía, of which I am one, perhaps the last.

You will kill me, but I will survive in my people, which is before yours, in the Americas. We are peoples of the winds, the mountains, the Caribbean Sea and of freedom.

You don't like our freedom, okay. I don't shake hands with white slavers. I shake hands with the white libertarian heirs of Lincoln and the black and white farm boys of the USA, at whose graves I cried and prayed on a battlefield, which I reached after walking the mountains of Italian Tuscany and after being saved from Covid.

They are the United States and before them I kneel, before no one else.

Overthrow me, President, and the Americas and humanity will respond.

Colombia now stops looking north, looks at the world, our blood comes from the blood of the Caliphate of Cordoba, the civilization of that time, of the Roman Latins of the Mediterranean, the civilization of that time, who founded the republic, democracy in Athens; our blood has the black resistance fighters turned into slaves by you. In Colombia is the first free territory of America, before Washington, of all America, there I take refuge in its African songs.

My land is made up of goldsmiths who worked in the time of the Egyptian pharaohs and of the first artists in the world in Chiribiquete.

You will never rule us. The warrior who rode our lands, shouting freedom, who is called Bolívar, opposes us.

Our people are somewhat fearful, somewhat timid, they are naive and kind, loving, but they will know how to win the Panama Canal, which you took from us with violence. Two hundred heroes from all of Latin America lie in Bocas del Toro, today's Panama, formerly Colombia, which you murdered.

I raise a flag and as Gaitán said, even if it remains alone, it will continue to be raised with the Latin American dignity that is the dignity of America, which your great-grandfather did not know, and mine did, Mr. President, an immigrant in the USA,

Your blockade does not scare me, because Colombia, besides being the country of beauty, is the heart of the world. I know that you love beauty as I do, do not disrespect it and you will give it your sweetness.

FROM TODAY ON, COLOMBIA IS OPEN TO THE ENTIRE WORLD, WITH OPEN ARMS, WE ARE BUILDERS OF FREEDOM, LIFE AND HUMANITY.

I am informed that you impose a 50% tariff on the fruits of our human labor to enter the United States, and I do the same.

Let our people plant corn that was discovered in Colombia and feed the world

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Wen-Ti Sung @wentisung.bsky.social · 25/12/2024

China's Finance Ministry had just issued Christmas presents for everybody. On 12/24's National Finance Work Conference, China's Minister of Finance Lan called for: - "increase fiscal deficit rate & issue ever greater govt bonds" - to "stimulate consumption and optimize expenditure structure".

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David Karol @davidkarol.bsky.social · 23/12/2024

This is another case -like the election of John Thune over Trump's favorite Rick Scott as Senate GOP leader-, where the less partisan choice may have prevailed because of the secret ballot. That's a somewhat paradoxically and normatively interesting result, to say the least.

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