“This administration has been confusing NATO topics with unilateral US military operations,” a senior defense official from a NATO ally told me. It reflects “the Pentagon’s desire to develop the case for specific, almost vindictive force presence reductions” a Euro official said.

NEW: A source sent me the questionnaire the Pentagon is putting to NATO Allies. Asking how "publicly supportive of US foreign policy" allies are, about restrictions on US troops and progress on Trump priorities.

New from me: Is Trump really giving Xi a state visit 40 days before the midterms? Presidents ordinarily have strong incentives to avoid honoring a deeply unpopular foreign rival on the eve of a close national election. Trump appears entirely untroubled by that risk. Is he signaling that he believes he has mastered the politics of U.S.-China relations? Or does he simply not care? Here's a guided tour of the strange theater of U.S.-China presidential diplomacy—from oversized Chinese flags on the White House grounds to the toasts, pop-star performances, and protocol slip-ups that have defined past visits. Read it here:

Asahi writes that Japan's public releases on Chinese military activities around Japan has changed under Koizumi. Proactive public communication seen as necessary to raise international awareness & not accepting unilateral changes to status quo.

Texas, Pennsylvania and now Ohio. This is a powder keg and has the potential to unwind 200-300 basis points of annual GDP if it metastasizes. How did it get this bad? The collective leadership of frontier AI has failed miserably in doing the basics: 1. Paint a positive picture of what is possible with AI. Instead of spilling the ink on the glass half full, stories abound of pearl clutching, catastrophizing or arcane technical jargon that, together, breed mistrust, fear and skepticism. 2. Visibly and disproportionately enrich the local communities AI data centers operate in. Tell these stories with a megaphone and have local leaders lead with the financial proof so it’s irrefutable. 3. Stop infighting and stop trying to influence the government or trick them because of the asymmetric knowledge the industry has relative to outsiders and observers. This further makes it seem like a shady money grab to many bystanders. Data centers have unfortunately become THE symbolic representation of the asymmetric upside for a very narrow tech elite and a class that are untrustworthy. Inasmuch, the safer bet may be that the pushback and resistance grows…

North Korea fires around 10 ballistic missiles, prompting South Korea to convene an emergency meeting of NSC. The short-range missiles were launched from Pyongyang area towards the sea between Japan and Korea.

Xu Jiayin (许家印), founder of China Evergrande Group and former China’s richest man, was sentenced to life in prison by a Shenzhen court today. He was convicted of fundraising fraud, illegal deposit-taking, securities fraud and embezzlement. Evergrande Group was fined RMB 8.82 billion; Evergrande Real Estate RMB 7 billion. All his personal assets are seized.

I’m sorry, but respectfully, even accounting for her being new to the job, this is embarrassing and inexcusable. China’s threat toward Taiwan is a bit of a big deal, especially — it would seem — for a member of the U.S. Senate.

🚨🚨🚨 New report alert on the future of defense! BLUF: To rebuild deterrence and the arsenal quickly, the US needs to sprint to scale precise mass capabilities in particular, and enable the defense industrial base to deliver! cc @RushDoshi @CFR_org

Perhaps the most jarring thought of late is that American Allies are more likely to develop their own means of nuclear deterrence not because the United States has too few nuclear weapons but because trust and confidence in the United States is too low.