ITK Daily | December 5

Happy Monday.

Here’s today’s ITK Daily.

To be ITK, know this:

Geopolitical rivalries are transforming the contours of trade: Reports of the death of globalization are looking greatly exaggerated. Bloomberg

+ US companies diversifying production away from China, Russia

+ Brexit has increased hurdles and costs for UK exporters

Inside China's fight over the future of 'COVID zero': Opinions about Xi Jinping’s signature COVID-zero policy vary wildly across China, a country often viewed from overseas as a surveillance state that enforces iron discipline. Japan Times

'It's the first time I've seen this in China': On the ground in Shanghai, where young people, born after the Tiananmen Square Massacre, are fed up and fighting back against the CCP. Common Sense

Nikkei: China's Xi unwilling to accept Western vaccines, says US intelligence

+ Recent protests no threat to Communist Party rule, according to Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines

China’s struggle with COVID is just beginning Yanzhong Huang

+ Huang is a global health expert specializing in China.

China operating over 100 police stations across the world with the help of some host nations, report claims: CNN reports Beijing has set up more than 100 so-called overseas police stations across the globe to monitor, harass, and in some cases, repatriate Chinese citizens living in exile, using bilateral security arrangements struck with countries in Europe and Africa.

+ Madrid-based human rights campaigner Safeguard Defenders says it found evidence China was operating 48 additional police stations abroad since the group first revealed the existence of 54 such stations in September.

AP: 3 Chinese astronauts return to Earth after 6-month mission

China astronauts return from Tiangong space station: AFP reports three Chinese astronauts safely returned to Earth on Sunday after six months aboard the Tiangong space station, state media quoted the country's space agency as saying, with their mission deemed a "complete success."

+ The Tiangong space station is the crown jewel of Beijing's ambitious space program -- which has landed robotic rovers on Mars and the Moon, and made the country the third to put humans in orbit -- as it looks to catch up with the United States and Russia.

US-Australia talks ‘should allow Japan to join AUKUS’ Matthew Cranston

The making of the US military's new stealth bomber: The B-21 is America’s first advanced weapon system in a new Cold War with Russia and China. Strategists at the Pentagon envision the radar-evading B-21 penetrating those countries’ air defenses to strike fortified targets should the growing military competition with Moscow and Beijing ever turn hot. Time

The UK is way too besotted with its SAS: The British can be proud of the achievements of their special forces, but they shouldn’t make a cult of it. Max Hastings

Kyiv and Baltics hit out at Macron’s stance on Russia: FT reports the French president’s critics say Moscow should ensure Europe’s security once the Ukraine conflict ends.

Von der Leyen promises EU help for companies lured by US green subsidies: Commission chief unveils easing of state aid rules to compete with Biden’s climate package. FT

Ethiopia’s Tigray forces withdraw 65% of fighters from frontline, says commander: AFP reports the commander-in-chief of the Tigray rebel forces has said that 65 percent of his forces have "disengaged," a month after a ceasefire agreement over Ethiopia's war-torn northern region.

+ The UN's World Food Programme said this week that an estimated 13.6 million people across Tigray and its neighboring regions of Amhara and Afar were dependent on humanitarian aid as a result of the war.

Iran says morality police abolished amid months of unrest: Le Monde reports after more than two months of women-led protests, Iran's attorney general said that the country's morality police had been abolished.

In Georgia, how sports explain a political battleground AP

Georgia Senate runoff: Tuesday, December 6

Hakeem Jeffries, big tent Democrat tasked with bringing back the House: The first black person to lead a political party in Congress must unite his colleagues to secure a comeback in 2024. FT

The shadow race is on to succeed Feinstein: California's long-serving senator hasn't revealed her 2024 plans, but Democratic hopefuls are making moves. Politico

How Democrats’ new primary calendar changes the chessboard: President Biden’s push to abandon Iowa for younger, racially diverse states is likely to reward candidates who connect with the party’s most loyal voters. NYT

Biden shakes up the primary calendar and insulates himself from challengers: Iowa is out, South Carolina is up first, and a new order is replacing a long tradition. The president set the table, and it is one very much to his liking politically. Dan Balz

+ "Biden had made it abundantly clear that he intends to run for reelection in '24. Any doubt about that was removed when he surprised members of the DNC with a proposal that dramatically reshapes the early primary season calendar and bends it in his favor"

Iowa’s loss of first Democratic caucuses would alter political clout and tradition: Republicans will still hold their first presidential nomination contest in the Hawkeye State. WSJ

Florida is no longer a swing state. That’s good news for US foreign policy. President Biden, with no hope of winning the state in 2024, is now free to pursue more pragmatic policies towards Cuba and Venezuela rather than catering to politically potent constituencies of conservative Cuban Americans and Venezuelan Americans in south Florida, as administrations of both parties have been doing for decades. Max Boot

From chicken wings to used cars, inflation begins to ease its grip: But there’s still a long way to go before consumers feel much relief or the Federal Reserve hits its goal of a 2 percent annual price target. WP

+ The cost of sending a standard 40-foot container from China to the US West Coast is $1,935 — down more than 90 percent from its September 2021 peak of $20,586, according to the online freight marketplace Freightos.

The easy money era is over but world leaders have not got the memo Ruchir Sharma

United Kingdom: Rishi Sunak leads an ungovernable Conservative party: Labour continues to rise in the polls, but the British prime minister's biggest threat comes from the disorientation and rebellion within his own ranks. Le Monde

Friedrich Hayek: A great political thinker rather than a great economist: Volume I of the definitive biography covers the first 50 years, from his birth in Vienna to the publication of his classic, The Road to Serfdom. Robert Skidelsky

The e-mail newsletter for the mogul set: The media startup Puck aims to build a business by covering power and wealth from the inside. New Yorker

US employee engagement drops for first year in a decade: Gallup reports for the first year in more than a decade, the percentage of engaged workers in the US declined in 2021. Just over one-third of employees (34%) were engaged, and 16% were actively disengaged in their work and workplace, based on a random sample of 57,022 full- and part-time employees throughout the year.

+ Employee engagement had been steady at 36% during the first half of 2021

+ Managers and healthcare workers had the steepest declines in engagement

+ Boosting engagement requires a focus on the fundamentals

Is your boss a ‘resolute returner’ or ‘choice champion’ over WFH? Some firms want staff back after COVID, others are still flexible. In the first of two articles, The Sunday Times asks about the future of hybrid working. The Times

+ In essence, two rival camps formed as COVID receded.

+ In one corner are the “resolute returners” — companies that want everyone permanently back in the office as if the pandemic never happened.

+ In the other corner are “choice champions” — firms that are adopting a work-from-anywhere model. These companies, many in tech and life sciences, recognize that the post-COVID workplace is not a simple binary choice — home or office.

Can Duolingo actually teach you Spanish? The free language app has gamified learning French, Gaelic, and even High Valyrian. Now the public company must make money without infuriating its fierce following. Bloomberg

From Kyoto Protocol to ‘fossil’ awards: Japan’s climate image stained by inaction: As countries stare down a crisis that is already having a profound impact on day-to-day lives, the urgency of such changes has increased. But 25 years after Japan hosted the landmark COP3 climate talks where the Kyoto Protocol was adopted, the country’s record at the national level is a study in contrasts. Japan Times

Seaweed plastic, farming startups among 2022 Earthshot prize winners: The award program founded by Prince William also gave $1.2 million each to coral reef protection, clean cookstoves, and carbon storage. Bloomberg

Brain implants could be the next computer mouse: What the world’s fastest brain-typist is telling us about the future of computer interfaces. MIT TR

FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried: Yeah, I lost investors $8bn — it happens: The collapsed crypto exchange’s founder went on an apology tour last week, claiming innocence and ignorance. The Times

11 hours with Sam Bankman-Fried: Inside the Bahamian penthouse after FTX ’s fall: Billions of dollars of customer money is missing, investigators are circling, and the 30-year-old ex-CEO admits his company broke its own rules. Bloomberg

Why suits are back in fashion for men: From tech bro hoodies to Boris’s crumpled suits, looking like a slob is no longer a sign of genius. The Times

The real magic of rituals: We might call them superstitions or spells, but they genuinely drum anxiety away. Nautilus

+ Our predictive brain does not like unpredictability.

+ This is where ritual comes in. The repetitive action patterns found in ritual function as cognitive gadgets that help us cope with stress.

Vardy v Rooney: The inside story of Wagatha Christie: A new drama based on court transcripts explores the libel battle between Rebekah Vardy and Coleen Rooney. Decca Aitkenhead reports. The Times

In hiring Deion, give Colorado credit for doing what other programs would not: A celebrity coach with no FBS experience or real interest in the Normal Way of Doing Things seems to be a scary prospect for some schools. Not for the Buffaloes, however. SI

Deion Sanders is exactly what Colorado needs, and folks are downright giddy The Athletic

+ “When you hire a head coach in college football, he needs to be excellent in one of these three areas: recruiting, culture or scheme”

+ Sanders will inherit the worst roster in Power 5 football. It’s also a program that has been nationally irrelevant since before most recruits were born.

Kevin De Bruyne on dealing with the spotlight, life at home, and whether he gets paid too much: The Manchester City Football Club midfielder – currently leading Belgium’s golden generation in their last stab at World Cup glory – is football’s quiet genius. He gives a rare look at the family life of a Premier League superstar. Guardian

America, the naive: In Saturday's World Cup–eliminating defeat, the US men’s team revealed its shortcomings against the old-world sophistication of the Netherlands. Franklin Foer

American soccer success in men’s World Cup remains a dream AP

What makes a country good at football? Wealth, size, and interest in football explain almost half of countries’ international performance. The rest can be taught. Economist

Today's knockout stage matches:

JPN v CRO 10:00 am ET

BRA v KOR @ 2:00 pm ET

Enjoy the ride + plan accordingly.

-Marc

Caracal produces ITK Daily.

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