“President Trump signed an executive order Friday blocking a semiconductor deal between HieFo Corp. and Emcore Corp., citing national security concerns related to China. ‘There is credible evidence that leads me to believe that HieFo Corporation, a company organized under the laws of Delaware (HieFo) and controlled by a citizen of the People’s Republic of China … might take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States,’ Trump said in the order. HieFo is based in Delaware, while Emcore is based in New Jersey. Genzao Zhang is HieFo’s CEO and co-founder. Trump’s executive order blocks HieFo from acquiring ‘the assets comprising the digital chips and related wafer design, fabrication, and processing businesses of EMCORE.'” (01/02/26)
“Maduro is a brutal dictator who is getting what he deserves. But Trump’s actions are still illegal, because lacking proper congressional authorization. Whether they result in a beneficial regime change in Venezuela remains to be seen.” (01/03/26)
“Venezuelans today are waking up to an unrecognizable country. Like every dictatorship, Maduro’s had invested heavily in the myth of its own invincibility. And yet the regime is very much still in place, albeit in a weird, decapitated state. State TV is still running regime propaganda, Vice President (soon, one surmises, to shed the ‘vice’) Delcy Rodríguez is still fulminating on behalf of the Venezuelan government, the hardline interior minister Diosdado Cabello is still giving fire-breathing speeches condemning American aggression, Maduro’s notoriously repressive attorney general, Tarek William Saab, is still out mining the night’s events for propaganda points. The entire ghastly apparatus of state repression that Hugo Chávez built and Nicolás Maduro perfected appears, for now, to be fully in control of the country. Maduro is gone. It’s tempting to think that, without him, the regime will implode. But Maduro’s was never the kind of personalist system that depends on a single leader.” (01/03/26)
“Talk is cheap — but Polymarket lets you put your money where your mouth is. Nearly four years after being shut down by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the online betting company that allows you to stake money on future events has become CFTC-compliant and relaunched for U.S. residents at the end of 2025. Not everybody is thrilled about Polymarket’s return. Commentators across the political spectrum have warned that betting, on sports or on anything, can cause financial and psychological harm, especially for those with a history of addiction. It’s prudent to abstain from speculating with money you can’t afford to lose, but Americans should still welcome Polymarket’s comeback.” (for publication 0/26)
“The Myanmar junta will release more than 6,000 prisoners to mark Independence Day, the state media reported on Sunday. Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing has granted amnesty to 6,134 imprisoned Myanmar nationals, the National Defence and Security Council said in a statement. The amnesty also includes 52 foreigners who will be released and deported from Myanmar. … The amnesty comes during a monthlong, three-stage election process that critics say is designed to create the impression of legitimacy for the junta’s rule.” (01/04/26)
“That Nicolás Maduro is a monster is patent, as was the illegitimacy of his government, which disdained respect for the consent of the governed. But the urgent argument begins, not ends, with those two facts. Heartbreak, a risk inherent in puppy love, today afflicts those who believed this president’s reiterated disparagements of U.S. involvement in regime changes, wars of choice and nation-building. The lovers will recover. … When Theodore Roosevelt asked Attorney General Philander Knox to concoct a legal justification for the unsavory U.S. measures that enabled construction of the Panama Canal, Knox replied, ‘Oh, Mr. President, do not let so great an achievement suffer from any taint of legality.’” (01/03/26)
“Britain’s and France’s air forces conducted a joint operation on Saturday evening to bomb a suspected underground arms cache previously used by the Islamic State group in Syria, Britain’s defence ministry said. Western aircraft have been conducting patrols to stop a resurgence of the Islamist militant group that ruled parts of Syria until 2019. Intelligence analysis identified an underground facility believed to be used to store weapons and explosives in mountains north of Palmyra, Britain said.” (01/04/26)
“North Korea launched multiple ballistic missiles toward its eastern waters Sunday, its neighbors said, just hours before South Korea’s president left for China for talks expected to cover North Korea’s nuclear program. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement it detected several ballistic missile launches from North Korea’s capital region around 7:50 a.m. It said the missiles flew about 900 kilometers (560 miles) and that South Korea and U.S. authorities were analyzing details of the launches. South Korea’s Defense Ministry noted the launches violated U.N. Security Council resolutions that ban any ballistic activities by North Korea.” (01/094/26)
