2/ Charging stations are a major constraint on the sales of EVs. A single Chinese EV manufacturer—BYD (in which Warren Buffett was one of the early investors)—announced that by the end of 2026, it will build an additional 20,000 charging stations across China. Moreover, with new technology at these stations, drivers can charge their cars’ batteries in 5 minutes.
3/ How many charging stations are there in the entire US today?
4/ About 80,000.
5/ How long does it take to charge one’s EV battery at these stations?
6/ 25 minutes.
7/ In all, China has over 20x more public chargers than the US.
8/ Therefore: as I argued in The Boston Globe in 2021, on current trajectories, the Green Future is destined to be Red.
1/ Trump’s year of tariffs produced a new high... for whom?
2/ 2025 was the year in which President Trump declared tariff war on adversaries and allies alike. This began with what he named “Liberation Day” on April 2nd and continued with fits and starts thereafter.
3/ Last month after the Supreme Court declared Trump lacked the legal authority to wave his IEEPA tariff wand in the way he had, Trump and his team responded by asserting tariff authority under alternative statutes and imposing a 15% tariff on most items.
At the end of the 4th year of the full-scale war in Ukraine, many are asking: who is winning and who is losing? The answer is obviously complicated, but for comparing narrative vs. numbers, consider the following questions:
2/ Who has achieved more of its core objectives? When he ordered a massive invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Putin intended to erase Ukraine from the map. Most Western intelligence agencies gave him better than even odds of succeeding. Remarkably, Zelensky and his colleagues remained determined to fight for the survival of their country. Despite huge physical losses, Ukraine is a stronger nation today than it was before it was invaded.
3/ Who has seized more territory? Over the past four years, Russia has captured 29,191 square miles of Ukrainian land (13% of the country, or roughly equivalent to half the U.S. state of Illinois). Ukraine’s brief adventure into the Russian oblast of Kursk was stymied and completely reversed.
1/ How long will this war go on? As we mark the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the most deadly war in Europe since World War II enters its 1,461st day.
2/ For comparison, see the chart below.
3/ As I wrote on the first anniversary of the war: “While the average interstate war lasts less than two years, major Russian and US wars since WWII have lasted over a decade, suggesting that the Russia-Ukraine War could last for many more years.” belfercenter.org/publication/ru…
1/ Deglobalization Delusions: The successive waves of press noise about US-China decoupling, derisking, or now "divorce" deserve one more big D: delusional.
2/ While Trump’s tariffs have caused a 25% decline in total trade between the US and China, China remains the US’s third-largest trading partner, right after Mexico and Canada, and the US remains China’s largest trading partner.
3/ Even more misguided are claims about Trump’s tariffs leading to economic “deglobalization.”
2/ Whose robots are kicking whose ass in the rivalry between US and Chinese technology companies? According to America’s leading promoter of humanoid robots, Elon Musk: “China is an ass-kicker, next level. We don’t see any significant humanoid robot competitors outside of China.”
3/ More inconvenient for Musk: his robot, Optimus, relies on Chinese suppliers for essential parts, such as the roller screws and motors behind the robot’s lifelike movements, according to a recent WSJ article in which Musk is quoted.