Intro

USAID is being dismantled brick by brick, the bricks are being pulped, the pulp is going in the blower, the dust is being scattered to the four winds. 

R.I.P, U.S.A.I.D. 

We’ll be sharing the surprising implications for independent anti-government bloggers in Moldova. 

Meanwhile, DeepSeek has beggared the US stock market and set NVIDIA on fire. Have the Chinese pulled off their Sputnik moment? Or just the ordinary shooting of a fox? 

Finally, the frenzied abandon of Donald Trump’s tariff blitz often feels like a version of Oprah’s You Get A Car. Except: You Don’t Get A Car. But is this more than a phoney war of sound and fury?