Welcome to The Adversarial. Every other week, we’ll provide you with expert analysis on America’s greatest challengers: China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and jihadists. Read more below. *** Russia Over the last two weeks, Russia has observed the shift in U.S. foreign policy with delight. As the United States and Ukraine discussed a deal for U.S. access to Ukrainian mineral deposits, Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested that Russia — including occupied Ukrainian territory — has greater deposits of these valuable commodities and would be happy to cooperate with the United States in developing these resources. Russian officials reacted to the combative
