Visited a showroom in Tashkent. These are the Chinese brands they had in stock:

Aion
BYD
Denza
Jetour
Leapmotor
Li Xiang
Voyah
Zeekr

Uzbekistan might be the first country where Chinese OEMs are taking market share from an American OEM.

This has been GM turf for two decades.

We're seeing more evidence of stablecoins as a sanctions-evading tool. Venezuela's state oil company, PDVSA, is demanding prepayment for half of each cargo's value in Tether, says Reuters, in anticipation of US sanctions recommencing next month.

The SHIPS Act is clearly intended to impose greater political costs on Biden. He can't reasonably enforce oil sanctions the way the act sets out. That would turn a matter of Iran policy into a salvo against China's energy security.

The act's authors want to put Biden in a bind.

New at THE OVERSHOOT (no paywall!)

Chinese 'Overcapacity' Is Not the Problem. Underconsumption Is.

theovershoot.co/p/chinese-over…

<-- The problem is not 'excess' investment in capacity, but making sure that the capacity can be fully utilized.

Happy to share my thoughts with Christine Lu of Foreign Policy

“In short, what can China do? There are few investments to threaten to cancel, and they have not followed through with previous commitments. So there are few carrots and few sticks.”

foreignpolicy.com/2024/04/19/ira…

Today I visited the Chinese-operated Minyoun Hotel in Samarkand. A fleet of black Hongqi EVs were parked out front. In the distance, I could see the Cho’ponata solar power plant, built with Chinese tech.

It all made this report from Yunis Sharifli feel real.
carnegieendowment.org/2024/04/19/gre…

Biden’s lack of a clear Middle East strategy besides Saudi-Israel normalization and unconditional support for Israel are major reasons why the U.S. is locked in a downward spiral of escalation and damage control in the region

This is certainly a novel situation for sanctions researchers…

The US is set to sanction a part of the armed forces of a country with which it has an “ironclad” security commitment.

Is Biden just signalling? Or does he actually expect to see behaviour change in the IDF?

All the gloating about NEOM getting scaled back misses the point.

NEOM is a “moonshot” that has already succeeded.

It totally shifted the parameters of acceptable ambition in Saudi Arabia and made people see the kingdom within a paradigm of development.
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

Spice, the original chokepoint! Great conversation with Esfandyar Batmanghelidj looking back at Weaponized Interdependence after 5 years.

Here’s some good news: Dubai has approved a $21.8 billion massive sewerage system plan. If successful, it could serve as a role model for the rest of the region, but differences in topography may limit the applicability of the Dubai model to other areas.
utilities-me.com/news/dubai-app…

Unique use of brick and tiles in this residential building in Dazful, Iran.

By bio-design architects

The IRGC is going to finish what Shapur I started.

Shafik is in a vulnerable position as a foreign Arab woman who just started her tenure. Bollinger probably wouldn’t have felt compelled to call in the NYPD.

But Shafik’s willingness to so quickly torch her relationship with the student body is stunning.
columbiaspectator.com/opinion/2024/0…

Last August, I wrote this piece explaining why Iran’s oil exports to China had recovered and why the Biden administration wasn’t doing anything about it.

This is one area where the administration has learned the reasonable limits of “maximum pressure.”
bourseandbazaar.com/articles/2023/…

the facts