ITK Daily | August 3

Happy Wednesday.

To be ITK, know this:

Breaking: The Goshen News: Congresswoman Jackie Walorski, three others killed in wreck near Nappanee

"Walorski and two of her staff members were in an SUV headed south on Ind. 19... Her two staff members were identified as Zachery Potts, 27, Mishawaka, and Emma Thomson, 28, of Washington, DC Thomas was her communications director, and Potts was district director."

I2U2? = India, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States

The countries aim to cooperate on "joint investments and new initiatives in water, energy, transportation, space, health, and food security."

Read this: Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan highlights America’s incoherent strategy Economist

MR: Incoherent by design, as there is no national agreement

Q: What's Wolf Warrior Diplomacy?

A: "Those who play with fire will not come to a good end, and those who offend China will be punished." -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on US House of Representative Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan

Read this: Why Britain changed its China stance Tom McTague

+ The cycles of London’s engagement with Beijing reveal how the US’s ability to keep allies in line for its great-power competition is weakening

+ Britain’s diplomatic back-and-forth in recent years has offered among the most extreme examples of how states are dealing with the wider geopolitical upheaval that has been taking place in response to China’s rise, a problem that no one yet seems to know the answer to

+ In Washington, a bipartisan consensus has formed around the notion that “engagement” with Beijing has failed

+ For continental Europe, Beijing is less an adversary than a risk to be accommodated, managed, and recognized, and the growth of its power an opportunity to carve out more “strategic autonomy” from the US

+ For Britain, trapped between the US and Europe, it is a mixture of all of these things

+ Britain’s apparent return to a more open China policy is a reminder of the difficulty Washington is going to have constructing and leading any kind of alliance—democratic or otherwise—to contain Beijing

Read this: Why I’m leading a congressional delegation to Taiwan - Nancy Pelosi | WP OpEd

+ "In the face of the CCP's accelerating aggression, our congressional delegation’s visit should be seen as an unequivocal statement that America stands with Taiwan, our democratic partner, as it defends itself and its freedom."?

+ "Indeed, we take this trip at a time when the world faces a choice between autocracy and democracy"

+ "By traveling to Taiwan, we honor our commitment to democracy: reaffirming that the freedoms of Taiwan — and all democracies — must be respected."

+ "America’s solidarity with Taiwan is more important today than ever — not only to the 23 million people of the island but also to millions of others oppressed and menaced by the PRC"

MR: The use of "Chinese Communist Party" by folks on Capitol Hill ??????

Read this: White House scrambles to avoid crisis amid Pelosi visit to Taiwan WP

+ The House speaker’s stop in Taiwan makes her the highest-ranking U.S. visitor there in recent years, prompting threats, anger, and military maneuvers from Beijing

+ “Taiwan will be the biggest winner... The Taiwan issue has become completely internationalized, which is the last thing China... want to see.” -- Fan Shih-ping, professor @ National Taiwan Normal University

+ Senate Republicans, who often criticize Pelosi, commended her for this visit, saying it showed a refusal to cave to pressure from a cruel dictatorship. In a statement, a group of 26 Republicans cited some of the commitments the US has made to Taiwan and China over the years

London Calling: Sajid Javid backed Liz Truss to be Tory leader

AFP: UK PM hopeful Truss poll favorite despite sparking anger in Scotland

MR: With her "attention seeker" remark, Liz Truss has entered "basket of deplorables” territory. Mo debates, mo trouble.

Read this: Truss’s Sturgeon jibe is bound to backfire Alex Massie

+ The Tory leadership frontrunner's comments were excruciating

+ The SNP thrives on grievance and ‘disrespect’; talking in a fashion that offers them precisely this is stupid almost beyond belief

+ The SNP would love nothing more than the chance to fight the next general election as some kind of Scotland vs England battle

German nuclear power: Fortune reports even some within Germany’s Green Party—No. 2 in the ruling coalition—now think the country may have to delay the planned shutdown of its last nuclear reactors at the end of this year.

Is an EV your next car - possibly: 42% of Americans say they would be very or somewhat likely to seriously consider purchasing an electric vehicle the next time they look for a car or truck, while 45% say they would be unlikely to do so, according to Pew Research.

Vermont's governor makes his official vehicle an EV: Governor Phil Scott (R-VT) has made a Ford F-150 Lightning his official state vehicle.

The US ‘friendshoring’ experiment risks making enemies Alan Beattie

+ The appeal of friendshoring (also known as ally-shoring) has risen sharply

+ Favoring political allies when constructing supply chains is expensive, tricky, and possibly self-defeating

Nick Clegg, the president of global affairs at Facebook’s parent company, Meta, is relocating to London part-time.

Michael Saylor steps down as MicroStrategy CEO as the company reports a $918 million impairment charge on Bitcoin holdings.

Cable news: Alex Wagner’s new MSNBC show has a name: “Alex Wagner Tonight.” It premieres on August 16 at 9:00 pm

USWNT v Lionesses: The US women’s national soccer team is tentatively scheduled to play newly crowned European champion England in an October 7 friendly at Wembley Stadium.

Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay, and Chile will submit a joint bid to host the 2030 World Cup.

MR: Pro-tip: For World Cups going forward, joint bids only

Vin Scully was on the call when Hank Aaron broke the all-time home run record and when Dwight Clark made “The Catch” when San Franciso beat Dallas.

No negativity allowed: Brigadoon Monthly Call with Sid Mashburn - Founder + Designer @ Sid Mashburn - on Wednesday - August 17 @ 2:00 pm ET. RSVP here.?

Curiosity drives creativity: Recorded in April 2022, a Brigadoon Monthly Call with Carlo Navato. Carlo is the visionary founder of Haxted Estates, a multi-award-winning property developer who believes his success has come from being passionately curious. Watch here.

Enjoy the ride + plan accordingly.

-Marc?

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