China is off Friday for the Dragon Boat Festival (端午节), so perhaps things from Beijing will be quiet through the weekend. No point in the bureaucrats undermining their holiday. Then again, it is a good time for US officials to mess up some official holidays if they are so inclined.

Xi and Putin are deepening their bromance. One of the Xinhua reports today quotes Putin as saying that Russia and China “jointly…promote the formation of a new international order based on the principles of equality, mutual benefit and win-win cooperation.” There is a reason Xi and the Party theory folks keep talking about “百年未有之大变局 changes unseen in 100 years” in the world.

Thanks for reading.