ITK Daily | August 12

Happy Friday.

To be ITK, know this:

BREAKING: AP reports New York police say Salman Rushdie suffered a stab wound to his neck in an on-stage attack and has been airlifted to hospital.

@mmcauliff: Pelosi: "you would think there would be an adult in the Republican room that would say, 'just calm down, see what the facts are.'.. instead of.. instigating assaults on law enforcement."

Not looking good for Liz Cheney:? A new University of Wyoming poll of Republican primary voters finds Harriet Hageman (R) leading Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) by nearly 30 points in the primary race, 57% to 28%

+ The Republican primaries that will take place in Wyoming on August 16, 2022

Read this: Sun, sand, and votes: Italy sweats over summer election campaign: Italian politicians scrap for attention while voters are on holiday. But beach campaign trips can backfire. Politico

Imagine running a campaign field office on the Amalfi Coast?!?

Chinese student visas to US tumble: WSJ reports global competition and strained ties between Beijing and Washington have led to a significant drop that has hit revenue at big and small colleges and universities.

Read this: China’s top 5 Wolf Warrior diplomats sinking their fangs into Europe: Top envoys take pride in a name derived from nationalistic action film heroes. Politico

Wolf Warrior Diplomacy describes an aggressive style of coercive diplomacy adopted by Chinese diplomats in the 21st century under Chinese leader Xi Jinping's administration. The term was coined from the Chinese action film Wolf Warrior.

Read this: Understanding Chinese “Wolf Warrior Diplomacy” NBR

@margbrennan: Kurt Campbell, Dep Asst to President Biden, tells reporters the US expects China to conduct an “intensified pressure campaign against Taiwan” & it will unfold in the coming “weeks & months.” No details yet on time or place for an upcoming Biden & Xi mtg but one is being discussed

Read this: China’s Xi Jinping plans to meet with Biden in first foreign trip in nearly three years WSJ

+ The Chinese leader, who has remained at home during the pandemic, is organizing a visit to Southeast Asia, say people familiar with the matter

@fravel: Potential Biden-Xi in-person meeting in November.

+ Most likely on the sidelines of the G20 meeting set for November 15-16 in Indonesia

Me on August 1 = @marcaross: I suspect Xi and Biden will meet on the sidelines of the G20 in Indonesia.

Bloomberg: South Korea says missile shield ‘not negotiable’ with China

+ Britain will double the number of rocket-launchers it sends to Ukraine

The Times: Explosions rock Belarus airbase used by Russian military

+ Russia confirmed for the first time that Washington and Moscow are in talks to swap prisoners

One to watch: Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam

@Itwitius: Ethiopian Gov says it has completed 3rd filling of Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. 25 metre rise in water depth from last year. Egypt unhappy as it wants slower increases in case of shortages in Nile. When full the Dam will be the worlds 7th largest.

@Gerald_Ashley: More geo-politics.....about Water

Peloton Interactive to cut 800 jobs, hike prices and shut stores in sweeping overhaul: Bloomberg reports product deliveries and support jobs will be outsourced as part of CEO’s turnaround plan.

@markgurman: Peloton is laying off nearly 800 employees, significantly raising Bike+ and Tread prices, planning to close several stores and moving to third-party equipment delivery in company overhaul.?

From December 2019: How Peloton went from being Porsche being Honda with one advertisement

Founder John Foley's public aim is to reach 50 million people in new markets.

But considering, the current market for bike/treadmill owners is believed to be 34 million.

So Foley and his team need to acquire 100 percent of this current market and still add 16 million more people.

Full post @ Caracal Insights.

Read this: Why 亚马逊 paid $1.7 billion for a Roomba: How a robot born as a $10,000 prototype found its way into the middle of a $1.7 billion deal. WSJ

Read this: The newsletter boom is over. What’s next? The Substack frenzy seems like a thing of the past, but lots of publishers are still leaning into newsletters. “They’re a great minimally viable product.” Peter Kafka

+ Newsletters are a “really great, efficient way to communicate with our audience” of Hollywood insiders and would-be insiders, says Janice Min

Agree. Newsletters are a superpower.

Read this: Do Open: How a Simple Email Newsletter Can Transform your Business - David Hieatt Amazon

Read this: Social media’s big bet: The shopping revolution will be livestreamed: Internet platforms including TikTok , YouTube , and Amazon say the future of retail is live ecommerce, but early experiments in the UK and the US suggest there’s still a long way to go. FT

+ It’s a scene familiar to anyone who has watched QVC or what used to be the Home Shopping Network, except this version involves social media influencers plugging products in livestreams, known as “lives”, featuring heavy discounts, flash sales, and gifts in mystery boxes

+ Social media platforms are betting on this model as the future of shopping, hoping to reap the rewards of an industry that has had huge success in China, where live ecommerce sales are expected to reach $423bn this year, according to management consultancy McKinsey

+ "Instagram’s transformation into QVC is now complete and absolute." -- Om Malik

LAT: Getty to return illegally excavated Orpheus sculptures, some great antiquities, to Italy

+ London museum will return looted Benin Bronzes to Nigeria

Read this: Why the Elgin Marbles may finally return to Greece: The British Museum wants to make a deal and end two centuries of rancor with Athens — what’s changed their mind? The Times

Read this: Jack White’s ‘Entering Heaven Alive’ is a singer-songwriter therapy session, in good way: The mercurial rocker’s second album of the year features some of his best music in quite some time. Rolling Stone

This album is on heavy rotation in my house.

Read this: Wawa isn't just a convenience store, it's a lifestyle: Part of life in Philadelphia and environs for generations, Wawa is—quite suddenly—cropping up all over. (We couldn't be happier.) Food + Wine

The Wawa Pretzel is a must.

Theatre of Screams: Paris Saint-Germain officials met the agent of Marcus Rashford last week as they attempted to gauge whether he is willing to leave Manchester United .

National Basketball Association (NBA) permanently retires Bill Russell’s No. 6

********

Caracal produces ITK Daily.

Caracal is a geopolitical business intelligence firm working with Chief Communications Officers with global responsibility.

Caracal provides advisory + analysis + amplification services.

More at caracal.global

Global Business Smarts

********