WORLD ROUNDUPThe Middle East’s Next Aftershocks | Putin Is About to Cut Russian Gas to His Allies Hungary and Slovakia | Himalayan Megadam Allows China Power to Turn Off Taps in India, and more

Trump Can’t Bully the Entire World  (Stephen M. Walt, Foreign Policy)
Loudly making threats doesn’t amount to a foreign policy.

Tensions with Russia Rise Amid Power Line Sabotage  (Brad Dress, The Hill)
Russia’s connection to the rupture of an undersea cable between Finland and Estonia is raising a new bevy of fears over the sabotage of critical power lines. The new incidents come as tensions between the West and Russia and China have risen over the war in Ukraine, and as the world braces for a shift in U.S. leadership as President-elect Trump prepares to take office.

Putin Is About to Cut Russian Gas to His Allies Hungary and Slovakia  (Oliver Moody, The Times)
It’s awkward for both pro-Kremlin leaders and sceptics like the Czech Republic —but the consequences could be felt across Europe.

Himalayan Megadam Will Give China Power to Turn Off Taps in India  (Amrit Dhillon and Richard Spencer, The Times)
The dam, to be built in Tibet at an estimated cost of $137 billion, could be the most expensive infrastructure project in the world.

The Middle East’s Next Aftershocks  (Raphael S. Cohen, Foreign Policy)
The Trump administration will find it hard to disengage from a region still being reshaped by the effects of Oct. 7.

Chinese Companies Have Sidestepped Trump’s Tariffs. They Could Do It Again.  (Ana Swanson, New York Times)
The companies have found plenty of new channels to the U.S. market —demonstrating the potential limits of the tariffs Donald Trump has promised to impose.

U.S. Imposes Russia, Iran Sanctions Over Attempted Election Interference  (Jeff Stein, Washington Post)
The Treasury Department accused a Russian entity of having “manipulated a video” about a vice-presidential candidate.