“Clearly, his staff has kept him from the usual back and forth with the press,” says Goodstein. “To be sure, he’s had some, but less and less over time. It seems a fair inference that his press contacts have been reduced to avoid gaffes.” Long-time Washington hacks talk of how, as a senator and then...
Tag: Daily Features
Post
Post
I taught China’s police cadets as Xi’s grip took hold – I hope they never meet my students in Taiwan
Near the end of my PPSUC stint, it transpired that Xi had become vexed by internet wags comparing him to Winnie the Pooh – so much so that a film about Pooh’s creator, A.A. Milne, called Goodbye Christopher Robin, which I’d been looking forward to seeing in Beijing, was banned. China only accepts a quota...
Post
How Yulia Navalnaya could become Putin’s greatest critic
“Yulia is the rock on which Alexei stands,” Vladimir Ashurkov, one of Navalny’s closest aides, said at the time of his final arrest in 2021. “She’s got his back.” According to Yevgenia Albats, an old friend and political ally, “Navalny the politician is two people: Yulia and Alexei.” I saw the couple together on several...