May 20, 2026 · Putin in Beijing, Massie ousted, Anthropic

Five days ago, Donald Trump walked down a red carpet outside the Great Hall of the People. This morning, Vladimir Putin walked down the same one. That's the story abroad. At home, four more — and they rhyme. Pip, Heap, and Bash walk the Kentucky primary that ended Thomas Massie's career, the D.C. Circuit's "spectacular overreach" hearing on Anthropic, Space Command's politically-tossed headquarters, and the CIA director's quiet trip to Havana. ~20 minutes. Sourced inline. - **Putin in Beijing** — Putin arrives with eight ministers and the chairmen of Rosneft, Gazprom, and Novatek but leaves his defense minister home; he and Xi sign a "multipolar world" declaration and extend the 2001 Friendship Treaty across roughly forty agreements — and Power of Siberia 2 stays stalled a fourth year - **Heap on Hegseth and Massie** — Trump-endorsed challenger Ed Gallrein defeated Representative Thomas Massie in the Kentucky 4th District Republican primary, two days after Secretary of War Pete Hegseth campaigned for Gallrein in person; the Pentagon-neutrality break, the Hatch Act question, and what Massie's defeat signals to every other Republican - **Anthropic v. Department of War, the readout** — the D.C. Circuit panel heard nearly two hours of argument; Judge Henderson called the supply-chain-risk designation a "spectacular overreach"; meanwhile Anthropic is closing a funding round valuing it near $900 billion — the same company the Department calls too risky to supply the government - **Space Command moves, Space Force gets a new chief** — USSPACECOM's headquarters relocation to Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville passes another milestone — a basing decision that has changed political hands three times in five years — and Trump nominates Lt. Gen. Douglas Schiess as the next Chief of Space Operations - **The CIA lands in Havana** — CIA Director John Ratcliffe led a US presidential delegation to Cuba on May 14, meeting the head of Cuban intelligence and a grandson of Raúl Castro; one of the highest-level US-Cuba contacts in decades, run through the intelligence channel rather than the State Department, with the State Sponsor of Terrorism designation as the lever More analysis at [Power Moves Before Policy Does](https://annardudley.substack.com).