World Briefing Plus: Time for Kyiv to Rethink Washington?

The Patriot walk-back I saw coming, an emerging four-power axis anchored in Beijing, and the viable - if unattractive - alternative Ukraine should be weighing.

This week, I connect dots that too few in Western capitals are willing to connect.

It was a consequential week on the Ukraine file. What happened with President Trump, what didn’t happen that was supposed to, and where things go from here. I’ll say this much: the walk-back on licensing Ukraine to manufacture its own Patriot systems is a very big deal. I saw it coming, I said so, and now it’s here.

But the bigger picture is what I really want you to see. Russia. North Korea. Iran. Trace the lines between them and they all run through one capital: Beijing. It’s an emerging global architecture that demands far more of our attention. And it’s forcing a hard question in Kyiv: is it time for President Zelensky to begin reorienting Ukraine’s foreign policy away from a Washington that can no longer be counted on? There’s an alternative path. Certainly, not the most attractive one - but a viable one. I explain in the video.

Paid subscribers: your exclusive briefing is live now. If you’re not yet a paid subscriber, this is the week to upgrade. You’ll come away far more in tune with what may or may not happen next.

Connecting the dots so you don’t have to.