ITK Daily | February 8

Happy Wednesday.

Here’s today’s ITK Daily.

To be ITK, know this:

WSJ: Biden highlights economic gains in State of the Union

NYT: Biden challenges GOP to help ‘finish the job’ on economy

WP: Biden ‘optimistic’ about America’s future

FT: Biden warns China over threats to US sovereignty in State of the Union address

+ President heckled by GOP when he says some Republicans want to cut Social Security, Medicare

+ President delivers a defiant message to Beijing amid rising tensions and defends economic record at home

+ Most Democratic voters don’t want the president to seek a second term, polling shows.

SOTU address was like a jam session at Preservation Hall.

+?"Tonight, I’m also announcing new standards to require all construction materials used in federal infrastructure projects to be made in America. American-made lumber, glass, drywall, fiber optic cables."

Industrial planning and buying America first was all the rage of the SOTU address.

+ "We’re making sure the supply chain for America begins in America."?

Actually, the supply chain does already start here in America with R&D and capital...

A better line would have been: "We’re making sure the supply chain for America begins AND ENDS in America."

For a President who spends his days confronting Russia and China, a domestic focus: Biden is proud of reshaping foreign policy to focus on superpower conflict, but knows it is jobs and energy prices that voters want to hear about.?NYT

+ Simultaneously managing an aggressive Russia and a risk-taking China may prove the greatest challenge of his next two years.?

+ And they will increasingly occupy his attention, especially now that Republican control of the House all but terminates his domestic legislative agenda.

+ So it was especially striking that in the president’s State of the Union address on Tuesday night, he chose to spend relatively little time on America’s global role, focusing instead on his “Made in America” effort to bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States.

+ Containing Russia and competing with China may be the work of decades, but it will add tens or hundreds of billions of dollars to an already stressed budget.

+ Biden’s national security team is debating which China will be harder to handle: a confident, rising power or the one that, in recent months, seems to be stumbling, unable to manage the COVID-19 virus, and increasingly stressed as it tries to restore the spectacular economic growth that was the key to its power.

+ As George H.W. Bush learned the hard way, voters are often unimpressed by foreign policy achievements.

+ Biden’s advisers fear that history may repeat itself, noting that the cost of gas and eggs influences voters in ways that containing Russian and Chinese power do not.

+ @sbg1: Biden made perhaps the best speech of his presidency. The heckling from Republicans only helped make his points.

Good speech.

Good energy.

Good politics.

Also, he's running again.

+ "And we’re just getting started."

+ "Finish the job" looks to be Biden's 2024 campaign theme.

More Jon Meacham magic: Historian and author Jon Meacham helped Biden with this year's State of the Union address. Meacham has served as a wordsmith for three of Biden's most important speeches: Biden’s acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention and his inaugural address. Plus, for my money, Biden's best speech, his remarks delivered on the one-year anniversary of the January 6 Capitol Hill insurrection.?

AP: Fears grow for untold numbers buried by Turkey earthquake

WSJ: Death toll from quakes in Turkey, Syria passes 7,500

The Times: Race to find quake survivors as 20,000 feared dead

+ @spectatorindex: BREAKING: Turkey-Syria earthquake death toll passes 11,000

Le Monde: Earthquake in Turkey and Syria: 'We hear people screaming but we can't do anything'

Disaster in Turkey and Syria is one of deadliest this century: NYT reports rescue workers were toiling in a vast and desperate search complicated by geography and geopolitics, freezing weather, and the sheer scope of the disaster.

Erdo?an races to prevent political fallout from earthquake: Politico reports former PM Bülent Ecevit was widely condemned for indecision after a major quake in 1999, so Erdo?an wants to be seen on the front line.

Reuters: Ukraine says Russians endure deadliest day, Germany and allies to provide tanks

+ Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will visit Brussels on Thursday.

+ Moscow’s forces are advancing only a few hundred meters a week, UK intelligence says.

+ Vice President Harris will travel to Germany from Feb. 16-18 to attend the 2023 Munich Security Conference.

US approves $10 bn sale of Himars rocket launchers to Poland: AFP reports the United States on Tuesday announced its approval of a $10 billion sale of 18 Himars precision rocket launchers plus ammunition and other equipment to Poland, a NATO ally that borders conflict-hit Ukraine.

Russia in Africa: How Moscow bought a new sphere of influence on the cheap:?FT reports by focusing on a strip of countries from Mali to Sudan, it is challenging the west and opening what some call a ‘second front.’

EU and India launch trade and technology council: Politico reports that Margrethe Vestager and Valdis Dombrovskis will chair the talks for the EU side.

The Times: Sunak’s reshuffle is biggest Whitehall shake-up since Brexit

How PM reshaped his government — keeping even ministers in the dark?The Times

Rishi Sunak shakes up his cabinet – and Whitehall?Katy Balls

+ A new science ministry titled the ‘Department for Science, Innovation and Technology’?

+ The Department for International Trade merges with the business part of BEIS

+ This could make the government run more efficiently and help Sunak point to delivery by the next election

Greg Hands new Tory chair as Rishi Sunak puts stamp on UK government machine: The long-serving minister steps into the role vacated by the sacking of Nadhim Zahawi as UK PM reshapes Whitehall.?Politico

Rishi Sunak is haunted by ghosts of prime ministers past: The return of Liz Truss to the political fray is a reminder of the British PM’s weakness within his party.?Politico

+ Truss and Johnson have, typically, both opted for swifter and more vocal returns to frontline politics than many of their forerunners in the role.?

+ David Cameron quit parliament entirely after losing the EU referendum in 2016, and waited three years before publishing a memoir — reportedly in order to avoid “rocking the boat” during the ongoing Brexit negotiations.?

+ Truss is expected to make her first public appearance outside the UK with a speech on Taiwan which could turn up the heat on Sunak over his approach to relations with China.?

+ “Not caring how much trouble they cause Sunak, because in their view, he should never have taken over from them in the first place.”

Boris Johnson and Liz Truss should fess up to failure: Leaders who deny any culpability in their own downfall have a corrosive effect on their party and the wider electorate.?William Hague

Britain is the sick man of Europe – again?Gareth Roberts

Brexit was a ‘colossal mistake,’ former PM John Major says?Bloomberg

+ Sir John said while he is not a "significant Europhile", he believes the UK was stronger in the EU.

+?"Ireland are our nearest neighbours. That relationship with Ireland mattered then and it matters now.

+ "We are out of the European Union and they are in it.

+ "Europe is going to face immense economic competition from both America and China. It may face military insecurity problems with China."

+ "I think not just us but the whole of Europe is stronger with Britain in it."

+ "Suppose we had a socking great row with China. Britain decided to put sanctions on China; China wouldn't be much bothered."

+ "I understand the sovereignty arguments, though many of them are more semantic than real. No country, not even the United States, has pure sovereignty."

"Who has pure sovereignty in NATO? We all sign up to NATO; nobody complains about that."

Bloomberg: UK steps up planning for digital pound currency backed by BOE

+ The BOE moves to allay concerns ‘Britcoin’ would hurt banks.

+ Currency wouldn’t be available until the second half of the decade.

North Korea stole more cryptocurrency assets in 2022 than in any other year.?The value of the virtual assets is estimated to be worth between $630 million and $1 billion.

Dancing with America has been a curse for the Philippines?Gina Apostol

+ The Philippines’ proximity to China has long been seductive for the United States. For Filipinos, it’s a curse.

Chinese balloon part of vast aerial surveillance program, US says: Spy balloon effort operates in Hainan province off China’s south coast and has for years collected information on military assets in several countries, officials said.?WP

+ On Monday, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman led a briefing on China’s balloon espionage for some 150 people from about 40 embassies, said a senior administration official familiar with the matter.?

+ The department has also sent to every US Embassy a “detailed information” on the espionage that can be shared with allies and partners.

+ Separately, US officials have begun to share specifics with officials in countries such as Japan whose military facilities were targeted by Beijing.

+ Some of the balloons have been launched from China on flight paths that took them around the entire globe.

+ Officials noted that China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs was apparently caught by surprise and was chagrined to see Blinken cancel his visit.

After the balloon, China works on fixing US ties while still looking tough?WP

+ Time may not be on China’s side if it wants to have a constructive high-level meeting soon. Top Chinese Communist Party leaders will be busy in early March at the annual meeting of parliament.

+ If the process takes too long, it could be disrupted by a possible visit to Taiwan by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) - Look for the Speaker to make a visit in April or May.

+ The response may have been complicated by an ongoing reshuffle of top officials. Qin Gang, who recently vacated the ambassadorship in Washington to become foreign minister, has not publicly commented on the incident.

WSJ: China refused US call after downing of suspected spy balloon, Pentagon says

GOP leaders push bipartisan resolution about China balloon incursion: “I think our greatest strength is when we speak with one voice to China," Speaker Kevin McCarthy said.?Politico

Deflating China’s trial spy balloon: Western nations don’t need to specify how they will respond, but they should leave no doubt that they will act against any intrusion.?Elisabeth Braw

The Chinese balloon is a counterproductive fuss: The divisions between the two major American political parties over China are bad news in a world already destabilized by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.?Le Monde - Editorial

SCMP: Tech war fallout threatens to derail China’s ascent to No. 1 economy

+ US technology containment has led some international organizations to delay – if not drop entirely – forecasts that China will become the world’s No. 1 economy.

+ China’s digital economy accounts for 39.8 percent of the gross domestic product, but for it to power future growth, the country needs high-end semiconductor chips.

Japan’s war on space junk: Record numbers of satellite launches by China, Russia, and the US crowd Earth’s orbit.?Nikkei

+ Between 2012 and 2022, the number of annual satellite launches increased 17 times and rocket launches 2.4 times, according to Space-Track, which is operated by the US Strategic Command.

+ In the last 10 years, orbital debris tracked by the US Department of Defense has increased about 60% to 27,000 pieces, and the pace of increase is accelerating.

+ In January, Japan and the US declared that their bilateral security alliance extends into outer space.?

+ Japan this year decided to double its defense budget in the area of space, in line with a move to raise national defense spending from 1% to 2% of gross domestic product by 2027.

+ “The overwhelming concern is that debris density reaches such levels that it triggers an irreversible chain reaction of on-orbit collisions.”

+ In September, the US Federal Communications Commission adopted a new rule requiring operators of low Earth orbit satellites to deorbit their spacecraft within five years after their mission ends, a much shorter timeframe than the 25 years currently required.?

The US trade deficit hit an all-time high last year of $948 billion, jumping more than 12% from 2021, per new Commerce Department data out today.?

DeSantis allies are eyeing a ’24 Super PAC: Puck reports it’s the clearest sign yet that DeSantis is embarking on a national campaign. And given the consultants involved, it’s all but certain to have his approval.

DeSantis continues broadsides against the media ahead of likely 2024 run: Politico reports during Tuesday’s discussion, DeSantis didn’t detail any specific laws he wanted to be enacted but pressed Florida legislators to “protect” Floridians.

Club for Growth distances itself further from Trump: NYT reports the anti-tax group has invited six possible presidential candidates to its donor retreat in Florida, and a notable name was left off the guest list.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders gets a SOTU spotlight. Trump gets the affirmation. Arkansas' newest governor gets a prime speaking gig. The ex-president gets proof that his imprint on the GOP endures.?Politico

Hollywood’s China predicament: New law restricts US cooperation on projects modified to appease Beijing?Deadline

+ "The only thing Democrats and Republicans seem to agree on these days is that China is evil and must be contained."

+ Only 15 US films were allowed into China last year.

Vox Media is raising $100 million from Penske Media: The deal is the latest in a series of acquisitions and investments made by Penske Media, the owner of a swath of entertainment and trade publications, including Rolling Stone and Variety.?NYT

+ As a result of the investment, Penske Media will own about 20 percent of Vox Media, making it the largest shareholder of the company.

+ Much of Penske Media’s revenue comes from live events, including LA3C, a Los Angeles-based festival celebrating music, art and food. The company is also an owner of South by Southwest, a festival known for previewing emerging tech companies.

CBC signals plans to go full streaming, ending traditional TV and radio broadcasts?Globe + Mail

+ The CBC is looking to end its broadcasts on traditional TV and radio in favour of a digital-only strategy, but likely not any time soon. CBC President and CEO Catherine Tait told The Globe and Mail that “in order to remain relevant” CBC will have to shift its programming online at some point.

+ “If we’re going to be audience first we have to be digital first. We get up every day and say, ‘What do our audiences want, and where are they?

+ The shift is unlikely to happen so soon as it requires “broadband ubiquity” to ensure that all Canadians – regardless of where they live or their socioeconomic status – have good enough internet to stream programs and films.

Zoom?will lay off 15% of its staff.

TikTok’s critics use Chinese spy balloon to attack the app: NBC News reports Republicans say national security concerns raised by the balloon are similar to spying concerns that have plagued TikTok.

TikTok execs to Chinese spy balloon: "Thanks..."

We've lost the plot: Our constant need for entertainment has blurred the line between fiction and reality—on television, in American politics, and in our everyday lives.?Megan Garber

+ Dystopias often share a common feature: Amusement, in their skewed worlds, becomes a means of captivity rather than escape.?

+ In 1992, Neal Stephenson’s sci-fi novel Snow Crash imagined a form of virtual entertainment so immersive that it would allow people, essentially, to live within it. He named it the metaverse.

+ Each invitation to be entertained reinforces an impulse: to seek diversion whenever possible, to avoid tedium at all costs.

+ Life in the metaverse brings an aching contradiction: We have never been able to share so much of ourselves. And, as study after study has shown, we have never felt more alone.

+ “Are you not entertained?” Maximus, the hero of Gladiator, yells to the Roman throngs who treat his pain as their show.

Microsoft to power Bing with AI as race with Google heats up: Company to work with OpenAI to improve search and Edge web browser as rival unveils ChatGPT competitor.?Guardian

+ Microsoft is revamping its search products with more artificial intelligence, using technology behind the wildly popular ChatGPT, as tech companies race to take advantage of increasingly powerful AI tools.

+ Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft’s consumer chief marketing officer, said at the briefing that the Bing search engine would be powered by AI and run on a new, next-generation “large language model” that is more powerful than ChatGPT.

+ Microsoft is now aiming to market OpenAI’s technology, including ChatGPT, to its cloud customers and add the same power to its suite of products.

A tech race begins as Microsoft adds AI to its search engine: Amid the tech industry’s worst slump in decades, industry leaders are predicting an era built on new chatbots and other types of artificial intelligence.?NYT

+ “This technology will reshape pretty much every software category that we know,” said Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s chief executive. He added that “a race starts today in terms of what you can expect.”

+ Read: Meeting the AI moment: advancing the future through responsible AI?Brad Smith - Vice Chair & President

Microsoft sees 'new day' in war with Google over AI search engines: AFP reports Microsoft's long-struggling Bing search engine will integrate the powerful capabilities of language-based artificial intelligence, CEO Satya Nadella said on Tuesday, declaring what he called a new era for online search.

I tried Microsoft’s new AI-powered Bing. Search will never be the same.?Our columnist got an early look at the software giant’s addition of ChatGPT powers to its search engine.?WSJ

The astonishing transformation of Austin: My town, once celebrated for its laid-back weirdness, is now a turbocharged tech megalopolis being shaped by exiles from places like Silicon Valley.?New Yorker

+ Austin is the fastest-growing major metro area in America, having expanded by a third in the past ten years.?

+ It is already the eleventh-largest city.?

+ Locals point disdainfully to the Hermès shop and the Soho House on South Congress, formerly the funkiest street in town.?

+ Evan Smith, a founder of the Texas Tribune, told me, “Austin now has an upper class.”

+ "Don't California my Texas."

+ SXSW has lost that intimate feel. It now has the placeless vibe of a TED-talk conference.

+ Everywhere in town, you see new apartments and condos and houses under construction, but Austin can’t keep pace with the boom.?

+ The university has been buying up properties for subsidized faculty housing, as NYU does in Manhattan, because professors have been priced out of the market.

Chevron explores Algerian gas plans amid Russian sanctions: WSJ reports the oil giant is in talks to clinch a deal in the North African nation that holds bigger shale resources than the US.

US car makers’ EV plans hinge on Made-in-America batteries: Federal incentives are helping expand domestic battery production. Here’s what the manufacturing process looks like.?WSJ

Much of a Dutchness: The world’s biggest ever Vermeer show is an unmissable feast?Guardian

+ Vermeer is at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, from 10 February to 4 June.

Gustavo Dudamel, star maestro, to leave LA for New York Philharmonic: NYT reports Dudamel, a charismatic 42-year-old conductor, will take up the Philharmonic’s podium in 2026 in a major coup for the orchestra.

Drop the puck: Labor Secretary Marty Walsh will leave his post to become executive director of the NHL Players’ Association. Walsh would be the first Cabinet secretary to leave the Biden administration.

+ Labor Secretary Marty Walsh was last night's designated survivor.

Boom: The UConn-South Carolina women's basketball game nearly matched the Tottenham-Manchester City game's TV audience: 1.087 million v 1.109 million.

WP: The Super Bowl is a spectacle again after two years of COVID restrictions

FT: Super Bowl betting expected to hit $16bn

The secret Saudi plan to buy the World Cup: Crown Prince MBS privately promised to pay for all of Greece’s infrastructure in exchange for Athens signing up for the joint 2030 bid.?Politico

+ Riyadh’s megabucks offer to Greece will fuel criticism that Saudi Arabia is effectively attempting to use its astronomical wealth to buy the World Cup by creating a trans-continental coalition to cleverly take advantage of the voting system.?

+ The Saudis’ main rivals are a joint Spain, Portugal and Ukraine bid from Europe, and a South American bid from Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Chile.??

+ Holding the World Cup would be the culmination of Saudi Arabia’s ambitious strategy to dominate major sporting events.

+ “Saudi Arabia is strategically trying to position itself as an AfroEurasian hub — the center of a new world order. This positioning would enable Saudi Arabia to exert significant power and influence across a vast geographic area, which it is seeking to achieve by building relationships with key partners.”

+ “The multipolar staging of a World Cup with Egypt and Greece would be neither altruism nor largesse. Rather, it would form part of a wider plan, which the government in Riyadh is enabling through the potential gifting of stadiums.”

+ The decision on World Cup 2030 hosting will be made in 2024, with the bidding process set to open officially later this year.

Bloomberg: South American countries pitch joint hosting of 2030 World Cup

+ Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, and Paraguay submit candidacy to FIFA.

+ Argentine President Fernandez wants to add Bolivia as a host.

Paris 2024 Olympics: Mayor Hidalgo opposed to Russian athletes participating while war goes on: Le Monde reports Anne Hidalgo appears to have changed positions, after previously stating she was in favor of allowing Russians to compete under a neutral flag.

NBA owners approve Mat Ishbia’s purchase of Suns and Mercury: NYT reports the deal, which values the Phoenix basketball teams at $4 billion, was expected to close this week, transferring ownership away from Robert Sarver after a tenure that ended in scandal.

Enjoy the ride + plan accordingly.

-Marc?

Marc A. Ross | Chief Communications Strategist @ Caracal

Caracal produces ITK Daily.

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