ITK Daily | December 19

Happy Monday.

Here’s today’s ITK Daily

To be ITK, know this:

Qatar warns Brussels bribery allegations could hurt energy talks with Europe: WSJ reports the Persian Gulf kingdom is one of Europe’s best hopes for weaning itself off Russian natural gas.

Qatar says EU corruption investigation is threat to relations: Le Monde reports four people are detained in Brussels as part of an investigation into suspected corruption benefitting Qatar, which had its access to the EU parliament suspended.

How will Israel’s most rightwing government yet wield its power??Supporters say Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition will reshape and strengthen the country. Critics fear it might tear at the fabric of the state.?FT

A nervous cabinet and even more strikes: Will Rishi Sunak or the unions blink first??The prime minister is resisting calls for a quick deal with NHS staff, but worried ministers are discussing a one-off payment to break the deadlock.?The Times

US sees China as economic bully, seeks united front with allies: Washington wants to forge a strategy with Japan and the EU against trade retaliation.?Nikke

US should brace for '10-year' chip curbs against China: analyst?Nikkei

+ Author of 'Chip War,' Chris Miller, says globalization and free trade are not near death

The US needs to change the way it does business with China?Robert E. Lighthizer

+ Lighthizer was the US trade representative in the Trump administration

+ "it is time to adopt an explicit policy of strategic decoupling of our economy from theirs — not a total decoupling, but one that should be done over time and in an organized way."

+ "The objective of this strategic decoupling is simple — reciprocity."

Which is better?

?A) Strategic decoupling

B) Total decoupling

Bloomberg: Biden’s China tech crackdown leaves Xi with few ways to hit back

+ US efforts to stifle Chinese tech gained momentum this week

+ China has appealed to WTO, and criticized the US for protectionism

Chinese cities grapple with rapid spread of COVID: Pharmacies run out of medicine, and schools move classes online.?FT

'Our lives don't count': In Peru, deadly protests continue as new leader struggles for control: Twenty people have been killed in ten days, mostly by gunfire, in protests demanding elections following the impeachment of former president Pedro Castillo.?Le Monde

Global biodiversity deal edges closer to reality at UN summit: Nikkei reports the China-led talks aim to protect 30% of land, and marine areas amid funding feud.

UN biodiversity talks aim to strike deal protecting third of planet: International conference in Montreal to vote on ‘Paris Agreement for nature’ proposal.?FT

Military spending surges, creating new boom for arms makers: The combination of the war in Ukraine and concern about longer-term threats from Russia and China is driving a bipartisan push to increase US capacity to produce weapons.?NYT

Falling in the polls and lacking a strategy, Donald Trump faces rough sailing: The only candidate declared for the 2024 US presidential election is convincing just a third of Republicans.?Le Monde

Donald Trump has one underrated advantage in the 2024 election?David Byler

Biden team planning a dramatically expanded digital strategy for 2024: One aim is to organize content-sharing between supporters and their friends on digital platforms, including TikTok and WhatsApp, where political advertising is not allowed.?WP

+ The review found phone-based apps and streaming television have grabbed an increasing share of attention from voters, which offer fewer opportunities for direct advertising.

+ “The idea is not just to meet people where they are, but it’s to meet people everywhere they are,” said Jen O’Malley Dillon, a senior Biden adviser, speaking about the shifting media environment. “And that’s complicated and hard.”

+ “The places where people get information and the places where people communicate with each other about politics continue to fragment,” said Anita Dunn, another senior adviser to Biden. “As you think about how to communicate with this country, it is an additive process.”

+ Democratic strategists are aiming to take advantage of a chaotic GOP presidential primary next year to build a large network of volunteers and donors for the reelection campaign, under the assumption that Biden will not face a serious challenge for his party’s nomination.

+ Emails and text messages remain the building block of grass-roots fundraising. But the rise of social media has made digital communication between individual voters more important.

+ The successful Pennsylvania Senate campaign of John Fetterman demonstrated some of the emerging options available to Biden’s team.

+ “People don’t just read the political news in the newspaper. You have to actually get them engaged in other ways,” said Rebecca Katz, Fetterman’s campaign consultant and a partner at New Deal Strategies.

+ “There has always been a space for earned media and paid media, but rarely have we talked about the merging of the two and being a bit more creative.”

+ “The nature of news consumption and information absorption has radically decentralized,” said another strategist involved in the planning effort. “We have got to be able to engage in an information war.”

As he preps for 2024, Biden has finally found his footing as President: President’s allies say it’s time for Democrats to rally for re-election.?Bloomberg

Toyota chief says ‘silent majority’ has doubts about pursuing only EVs: Akio Toyoda says electric vehicles are one option alongside hybrids and hydrogen-powered cars.?WSJ

+ Challenges are mounting—particularly in securing parts and raw materials for batteries—and concerns have emerged in some pockets of the car business about the speed to which buyers will make the shift, especially as?EV prices have soared this year.

Toyota Prius tries again in US but without going all-electric?Nikkei

+ Critics skeptical despite iconic hybrid's improvements in style and power

Fusion is a light in the darkness — it’s time to supercharge its pursuit: Faced with dwindling returns on our energy, the case is now clear for going all-in on clean nuclear.?Matthew Syed

+ "The world made a serious blunder in failing to embrace nuclear fission, which provides 50 times more clean energy than it takes to produce."

+ "It is perhaps the central irony of our age that its widespread deployment was scuppered, in part, by scare stories circulated by green activists, who thereby ensured the rising tide of carbon emissions. But this is why we must not compound the error with fusion."

+ "Robert Stephenson, pioneer of the Rocket — a technology many claimed was impossible — said: 'The locomotive is not the invention of one man but of a nation of mechanical engineers.' It is a quote that should be pinned to the door of 10 Downing Street."

Nuclear fusion: From science fiction to ‘when, not if’: Energy gain breakthrough has raised hopes for a technology long seen as decades from reality.?FT

+ British astronomer Arthur Eddington first theorized in 1920 that the sun was powered by a fusion reaction that could be replicated on Earth to generate unlimited energy.

Green hydrogen booms in Asia as companies rush into projects?Nikkei

+ Denmark's Orsted in talks with POSCO, BP invests in the Australian project

+ According to a report compiled by the Hydrogen Council, with 150 multinational companies as members, the combined hydrogen demand of China, India, Japan, and South Korea will reach 285 million tonnes in 2050, accounting for 43% of the world's total.

ING Groep NV?closed three of its main offices in Amsterdam’s Southeast district on Fridays to save energy amid low occupancy.

Sam Bankman-Fried is expected to consent to extradition from Bahamas: WSJ reports the FTX co-founder has been in custody in Nassau since his arrest Monday.

‘Crypto winter’ has come. It looks more like an ice age.?A year ago, crypto was everywhere. Now, companies are collapsing, and prices for crypto coins have crashed. Is this the end of crypto as a mainstream industry??WP

ChatGPT creator OpenAI pushes new strategy to gain artificial intelligence edge: Behind ChatGPT and other AI breakthroughs was Sam Altman’s fundraising—but skeptics remain.?WSJ

+ The deal with Microsoft gave OpenAI the computing resources it needed to train and improve its artificial intelligence algorithms, leading to a series of breakthroughs.

+ In October, Microsoft said it would integrate OpenAI’s models into the Bing search app and a new design program called Microsoft Design.

+ The deal also gave Microsoft a strategic foothold in the arms race to capitalize on advancements in AI. Microsoft became OpenAI’s preferred partner for commercializing its technologies, an arrangement that allows OpenAI’s models into products such as Bing.

AI breakthrough ChatGPT raises alarm over student cheating: Academics urge universities to develop new forms of assessment after the launch of a program that imitates essay-writing.?FT

ChatGPT holds promise and peril: Bloomberg Opinion columnists share their views on all that’s compelling and alarming about the new text-generation software.?Wendy Pollack

The education of CNN’s Chris Licht: The network’s chief executive knew the job would not be easy. But this hard??NY

+ The World Service, a broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC with government funding via the Foreign Office, turns 90

Scots mission charts where modern oceanography began?The Times

+ This week, the University of Edinburgh will mark the 150th anniversary of the groundbreaking expedition that set sail from Portsmouth on December 21, 1872.

We’re drowning in old books. But getting rid of them is heartbreaking.?“They’re more like friends than objects,” one passionate bookseller says. What are we to do with our flooded shelves??WP

Messi, Mbappé, and a World Cup masterpiece: An epic final showdown between Argentina and France delivers beyond expectations.?Jason Gay

Messi earns World Cup glory as Argentina tops France in chaotic, captivating final: Lionel Messi finally added the last piece of glory to his extraordinary career, leading Argentina to its first World Cup championship since 1986.?Steven Goff

Argentina vs France: Lionel Messi wins battle of modern maestros in greatest final?Henry Winter

Argentina just won the World Cup, and Lionel Messi is the perfect man for this moment??Brenda Elsey

+ Dr. Elsey is a professor of history at Hofstra University and a co-author, most recently, of “Futbolera: A History of Women and Sports in Latin America.”

World Cup 2022: Facing France in final, Argentina's Lionel Messi is finally a prophet in his own land: Often compared to Diego Maradona and perceived as a 'Catalan,' the captain of the Albiceleste, who is playing against France on Sunday, is now unreservedly adored in Argentina.?Le Monde

Enjoy the ride + plan accordingly.

-Marc?

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