“Our Appeal Has Become More Selective”

The outlook for Russia’s defense industry is starting to get grim:

The West has already cornered much of the most lucrative parts of the market, meaning that Russia and China generally fight for the same customer base. Because most Chinese technology has some Russian foundations, interoperability with legacy equipment is an easier pull than it would be with American or European equipment. Chinese military equipment also remains price-competitive with Russian. This almost necessarily means that China’s export growth will come at the expense of Russian market share. 

Some other odds and ends:

• Russia’s bleak economic and demographic futures.
• Kyivan Rus in the Middle Ages…
• Collected works on how the world forgot about Russian imperialism…
• Moscow’s economic stats aren’t to be trusted.
• Confiscation of Russian state assets is legally quite complicated.
• Thinking through potential Russian responses to NATO’s new Nordic members