Well, howdy there internet people, let's Bow again and welcome to the

roads with Bow. Today is December 24th, 2023 and this is episode 19 of the

Roads Not Taken, which is a weekly series where we go through the

previous week's events and talk about news that was unreported, under

reported just didn't get the coverage I think it should we'll end up as

context later or sometimes I just find it interesting.

Today we will be covering stuff a little bit lighter than normal.

Merry Christmas.

Okay, so starting off with foreign policy. Germany

will be permanently deploying troops to another country for the first time

since you know, the troops will be stationed in Lithuania

as part of a deterrent against Russia. This move puts a whole lot of pressure on other

members of NATO to step up their presence. Putin signed decrees authorizing the

seizure of energy assets from quote unfriendly

countries. This is likely to hit Germany and Austria the hardest.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin is super mad that the U.S. is signaling support for seizing Russia's

Central Banks assets and using those to support Ukraine.

It is worth noting that those assets could total more than $300 billion.

Okay, top Chinese and U.S. military officials are back on speaking terms.

The break is over.

So that's good news.

It provides a channel for de-escalation.

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