Trump wrote The Art of the Deal, but his envoys in Moscow seem to have mastered the art of getting nowhere.

Washington wants the world to pick a side when it comes to AI. Beijing wants to shape the norms that govern it.

On 25th August 2026, John Ratcliffe, the director of the CIA, travelled to Moscow on an extraordinary, unannounced trip that reflects the unprecedented and urgent period we now endure. Ratcliffe’s visit has been widely discussed in media circles after the Washington Post confirmed flight-tracking data showing a C-17 flying from Joint Base Andrews to Moscow. Ratcliffe spent nearly eight hours there, meeting Sergei Naryshkin, head of the SVR, in what was described as a working-