Dipshittery and Cope:

• US Deputy Secretary of State:

Beijing is seeking to undermine the very system that they benefited from to return instead to a system where might-makes-right and big nations can coerce smaller countries into acting against their own interests

• Putin’s Struggles in Ukraine May Embolden Xi on Taiwan. Man, I really do just hate-read Bloomberg at this point. I swear they write shit for the sole purpose of trying to give me an aneurysm.

Western observers hope that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s faltering invasion of Ukraine will convince China to go slow — that it will discourage President Xi Jinping from undertaking an invasion of Taiwan. Yet there’s a real possibility that it could actually induce Beijing to go fast — to use force more harshly and decisively in hopes of avoiding the type of quagmire into which Moscow has stumbled.

Xi must also be stunned by the performance of U.S. intelligence ...

And maybe, in Xi’s view, Putin’s mistake was not his decision to invade Ukraine — it was that he conducted the invasion in such a bumbling, indecisive manner, giving the Ukrainians the chance to fight back and Washington and its allies the opportunity to make Moscow pay.

• Ukraine now has more tanks on the ground than Russia does, US defense official says
• Too Few Troops, Not Enough Supplies—Russia’s Eastern Offensive Could Be Doomed. Here we go again…
• Zelensky and Rep. Liz Cheney named JFK 'Profile in Courage' award recipients for 'defending democracy'
• Acknowledging the Limits of Sanctions

It is undeniable that the United States and its allies were — and still are — right to use sanctions to try to end this war.

Of course. Obviously. That’s just true.

Here’s the issue: Sanctions historically have not been particularly effective in changing regimes, and their record at changing dictators’ behavior is mixed at best. Sanctions can have other unintended consequences as well. They can actually end up strengthening a dictator’s grip on power by tightening state control over the economy.

Awesome! So why do it, then?

I Thought I'd Mention:

• China test-fires hypersonic anti-ship missile
• Nakedcapitalism: The Russia-NATO Cyber War Is Escalating Fast