ITK Daily | January 27

Happy Friday.

Here’s today’s ITK Daily.

To be ITK, know this:

Inside Washington’s about-face on sending tanks to Ukraine: Weeks of squabbling opened a rare breach between two of Ukraine's top allies. Then the president decided to make peace.?Politico

+ President Joe Biden decided it was more important to show a unified front and send the tanks — a move that could go down as one of the most consequential decisions in the multinational effort to arm Ukraine.

+ Biden “knew the only way Germany would do Leopards is if we did Abrams and allied unity is the most important thing to him. So Secretary Austin sent a proposal on how to make it happen.”

+ Pressure within Europe continued to mount on Germany to make a move. On Jan. 11, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki spoke by phone with French President Emmanuel Macron and discussed how to convince Scholz to drop his resistance on tanks.

+ “Germany is still very afraid of Russia. That is the reality,” said Oleksii Goncharenko, a member of Ukraine’s Parliament. “They are still playing these games about defensive weapons versus offensive weapons. It is nonsense because the war is a defensive war for us.”

Western tanks are coming to Ukraine, but will they be enough??Western allies have pledged to send at least 105 tanks, far less than Ukraine says it needs, and it may be months before they join the battle.?NYT

Ukraine got its tanks. Now it wants jet fighters too: Politico reports discussions are underway about supplying Kyiv with modern aircraft, despite Western fears of escalation.

+ @JoshNBCNews: Exclusive from @NBCNews: Biden considering Europe trip around Ukraine invasion 1-year anniversary next month, sources tell @carolelee,@ckubeNBC & me

?+?France and Italy are close to finalizing the technical details to supply a SAMP/T air defense system to Ukraine

+ The IMF is exploring a multiyear aid package for Ukraine worth as much as $16 billion.?

AP: New barrage of Russian strikes in Ukraine kills at least 11

A Russian graveyard reveals Wagner’s prisoner army?Reuters

Reporting corruption in a time of war: The Ukrainian journalists’ dilemma: We face a continual tension between holding the government to account and not wanting the enemy to undermine us by exploiting bad news.?Politico

The man who may challenge Putin for power?Mikhail Zygar

+ Mikhail Zygar is a Russian journalist and the author of “All the Kremlin’s Men: Inside the Court of Vladimir Putin.”

Keir Starmer: ‘We haven’t won – yet’?Isabel Hardman

+ Labour is 20 points ahead in the polls.

+ Rachel Reeves, shadow chancellor, claims to have met 320 chief executives in the past year – is Starmer’s first big interesting shift in Labour policy.?

+ It’s too early to say whether there is such a thing as ‘Starmerism’, but he’s keen to outline what seems to be updated Blairism: harmony between state and private, a desire for companies to succeed to generate the tax needed for the public sector.

+ Starmer was named ‘politician of the year’ at our Parliamentarian Awards in November.

+ Right now, with the media still focusing so much on Tory woes, not many voters are following the positions Starmer and Labour take on various policies.

+ The Tories were 20 points behind under John Major in 1990 but went on to win the general election two years later.

Bloomberg: Italy’s Meloni prepares trip to Libya to boost energy supplies

+ Prime minister already visited Algeria earlier this week.

+ Eni set to agree to $8-billion investment in Libyan gas fields.

WP: 9 killed in Israeli raid, Palestinians say, in deadliest West Bank incident in years

US, Israel send message to Iran with biggest-ever military exercises:?WSJ reports more than 180,000 pounds of live munitions were fired, and thousands of personnel took part in the exercise.

Turkey's opposition in disarray ahead of presidential election: With four months to go before the presidential election scheduled for May 14, the six-party coalition has yet to find a candidate.?Le Monde

+ "When asked, no one believes that the opposition will be able to restore the economy," ?zer Sencar, with polling company MetroPOLL

AFP: India to get more than 100 cheetahs from South Africa

Japan boosts Global South ties with eye on China and Russia: Nikkei reports as G7 summit approaches, Tokyo aims to take lead in security concerns.

AP: Japan launches intel satellite to watch N. Korea, disasters

New US base on Guam is aimed at deterring China: WSJ reports Camp Blaz is eventually expected to house 5,000 Marines and be a hub for training in the Western Pacific.

Biden grants Hong Kongers in the US a 2-year deportation reprieve: Politico reports White House says the people of Hong Kong face "increasing repression" by China.

Biden has the edge on Xi. That’s why it’s time to talk: The US would benefit just as much as China from a pause in hostilities, but for different reasons.?Minxin Pei

+ Biden’s investments in chips and infrastructure have put China on the defensive.

Protests, prison, incompetence, and cocaine: Peru is pulling itself apart with little to no outlook for when normalcy will return. Southern Pulse briefly explores the underlying elements that currently hold the country captive in a state of socio-political arrhythmia.?Southern Pulse

Canada has never had an Indigenous woman on its currency — this provocative campaign is trying to change that: Change the Bill movement hopes the Bank of Canada will honor a First Nations heroine for the first time on the country’s banknotes.?Toronto Star

+ The FDA is considering a one-and-done annual COVID-19 booster plan.

Biden’s next 2 years: A brutal war and a rough campaign: A war with no end in sight threatens to loom over Biden and his expected reelection bid.?Politico

+ Though Biden aides don’t expect the war to be one of the top issues heading into the next election, polling suggests that the public backs the president. A new Ipsos poll released this week shows that a majority of Americans favor keeping the weapons supply line to Ukraine open — while keeping the U.S. military off the battlefield.

+ Russia still controls about 20 percent of Ukraine, and the officials believe the Ukrainian goal of retaking Crimea, which Russia took by force in 2014, remains unlikely and may deter Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy from sitting across the table from Russian negotiators.

+ “Europeans should remember that the Biden administration will probably be seen as the last truly transatlantic minded administration. We’ll never have it as good as we have it with Grandfather Biden taking care of our needs, and that has to sink in in Europe.”

No Democratic bench? Josh Shapiro and Wes Moore are ready to step up: The inaugurations in Pennsylvania and Maryland this month introduced Democrats to their future.?Jonathan Martin

Potential Biden challenger Marianne Williamson heads to New Hampshire: WP reports the visit comes as state Democrats warn the ongoing showdown over primary dates “will create an opening for an insurgent candidate” that could embarrass the president.

Bloomberg: Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign faces trouble in crucial Iowa

+ Ex-president carried the state in 2020, and 2016 election runs.

+ Trump is visiting primary states New Hamshire and South Carolina.

Ending suspension of Trump’s accounts with new guardrails to deter repeat offenses?Nick Clegg, President, Global Affairs @ Meta/

How much does unbanning Trump really matter??John Herrman

An RNC remade by Trump backs away from his 2024 campaign: NYT reports Interviews with more than a third of the Republican National Committee’s members point to a desire for an alternative presidential nominee to emerge from a competitive primary.

The Hill: DeSantis wades into RNC race: ‘I like what Harmeet Dhillon has said’

+ “I think we need to get some new blood in the RNC," the Florida governor said in an interview.

+ DeSantis also speaks positively about McDaniel's top challenger, Harmeet Dhillon, the RNC committeewoman from California.

Ron's first gaffe?

Why jump into this contest?

My guess is that he wants access to big dollars from the Golden State.

LAT: California Rep. Adam Schiff enters marquee Senate race

AP: Slotkin preps Michigan Senate run after winning tough reelection bid

Avoid TikTok for government work, Dutch officials told: Politico reports the Netherlands wants the Chinese app to clean up its act on data protection before government services could use it.

TikTok’s new defense in Washington: Going on the offense: Keeping its head down has not paid off for the company, which now faces regulatory pressure on many fronts. So it is starting to speak out.?NYT

Unless TikTok has a team of wolverines that wakes up every day and fights and educates with a high-low communications effort that spends a minimum of $20 million annually, this article will be the zenith of the effort.

+ @venturetwins: Has TikTok lost the hype??MAUs have plateaued and downloads are declining.?With the novelty fading and copycat products gaining steam, TikTok needs a second act.

BuzzFeed to use ChatGPT creator OpenAI to help create some of its content: WSJ reports CEO Jonah Peretti said the publisher would use the technology to make more comprehensive quizzes, and interactive content.

What's BuzzFeed?

@sokane1: "BuzzFeed remains focused on human-generated journalism in its newsroom, spokeswoman says" an early contender for bleakest sentence of the year

ChatGPT is everything you wanted Bitcoin to be?Joshua M Brown

+ "Bitcoin is a middling technology that, 15 years after its introduction to the world, still does not have a single legitimate use case in the developed world where it’s the best possible solution to a problem."

+ "In the meantime, ChatGPT was introduced a few months ago and has already spread like wildfire in a way that Bitcoin never has, despite the latter’s explosive rise into the public consciousness as a way to gamble and speculate."

+ "It’s too early to write off the possibility of blockchain somehow becoming transformative. But at the current rate of progress, it would take a century for the financial benefits of using blockchain technology to offset the hundreds of billions of dollars that have been lost betting on it."

+ "If bitcoin were to disappear tomorrow, almost nobody would notice any difference."

+ Sam Altman, creator of ChatGPT and CEO of OpenAI, is making the rounds in DC this week.

Google prepares for second antitrust showdown: WSJ reports the latest US lawsuit against Google compounds the legal issues the company faces worldwide while broadening the scope of the government’s allegations around the tech giant’s online advertising business.

Toyota CEO Toyoda to hand control to next generation: WSJ reports Akio Toyoda, a scion of the auto maker’s founding family, will hand over the reins to Koji Sato, who has led Toyota's Lexus division

Toyota tasks Lexus chief with transition to era of clean vehicles: Akio Toyoda cites his 'own limit' in moving to support role amid the rise of EVs.?Nikkei

+ Toyota Motor President Akio Toyoda's decision to step back after 14 years brings a generational shift at Japan's largest company, as the self-described "carmaker" entrusts his younger successor with the task of navigating a fast-changing industry.

+ The change was announced Thursday via a news conference broadcast on the automaker's Toyota Times YouTube channel.

+ Toyota now consistently outpaces rival Volkswagen as the world's top-selling automaker, with around 10 million vehicles sold in 2022.

+ The company's top leadership is now 10 years younger than it used to be, setting the stage for its next steps.

New York City could lose 10,000 Airbnb listings in short-term rental crackdown: Guardian reports new rules spark a furious debate as city tightens regulation of illegal rentals in an attempt to defend housing stock for tenants.

Nikkei: China's convenience store king Meiyijia eyes 50,000th shop by 2027

+ Retailer wants better ready-to-eat offerings as it combats low daily sales.

Luxury giant LVMH sales, profit hit new highs: AFP reports the world's top luxury group LVMH said Thursday that its sales and net profit both hit new heights last year, driven by strong demand in Europe, the United States, and Japan.

+ Sales soared 23 percent to 79 billion euros ($86 billion), and net profit jumped 17 percent to 14 billion euros for 2022.

Insight | Better to innovate, create, or aggregate??Bernard Arnault, Chief Executive Officer of LVMH, has never stitched a bag, designed a ring, or launched a product - he and his team have simply made them better. Full post?here.

Beyond the hype, failure still is a big part of the space industry?WP

+ In spaceflight, “anomaly” is a sanitized word for “failure.”

+ In many ways the gold standard has been SpaceX. It launched 61 times last year, a record, and plans to fire more rockets to orbit this year.?

+ After seeing a record $47.4 billion invested in the broader space economy in 2021, that number plummeted last year by 58 percent, according to?Space Capital, an investment fund that specializes in space.

The space industry wants to clean up orbit paths cluttered with debris: The space industry met in Paris in January and agreed to protect the most frequently used orbit paths, which are full of debris.?Le Monde

+ In 2025, the first active debris removal mission, ClearSpace-1, will deorbit a secondary payload adapter from the European Vega launch vehicle before taking it for re-entry.

+ 'If we consider debris as recyclable, it gives it value and therefore we will willingly go get it' – Pierre Omaly (CNES)

Rome’s starlings create a stunning spectacle.?The birds are by turns, mesmerizing and maddening.?WP

The dwindling case for living in London?Rory Sutherland

+ "Things that would once have been available in London decades before the provinces now appear everywhere at once."

+ "Londoners always say things like ‘Yes but there’s the theatre’. Let’s face it though – even Shakespeare left London for Stratford in his mid-forties. As he no doubt found, the theatre is all very well, but it’s nothing like being able to park outside your house."

How a master sommelier couple built a wine bar with a diverse following?Guardian

I can’t stop talking about pocket coffee?Caroline Weaver

In Chicago, ‘opera can be hip-hop, and hip-hop can be opera’: Will Liverman and DJ King Rico’s “The Factotum,” at Lyric Opera of Chicago, is a gloss on “The Barber of Seville” set in a South Side barbershop.?NYT

‘Stranger Things’ tops the list of most streamed programs in 2022: WSJ reports viewers in the US streamed the equivalent of 19.4 million years of content across platforms in 2022, a record high, according to Nielsen.

Harold Ballard doc pulls back curtain on a raw, uncomfortable reality?Simon Houpt

+ Jason Priestley's new doc: OffSide: The Harold Ballard Story, a new TV documentary about the notorious former owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

+ In truth, though, Ballard’s greatest achievement may have been promoting himself.

+ Offside is a reminder of what reality often actually looks like – raw, ribald, uncomfortable, unvarnished – when there are no teams of image consultants ensuring someone doesn’t stray off-brand.

The mecca of New York skateboarding, back from the dead??Decades ago, a gritty and dangerous spot under the Brooklyn Bridge was the nerve center for city skateboarders. Mayor Eric Adams just announced plans that could fix it up.?NYT

+ The Brooklyn Banks is an irresistible gathering place and destination for skaters to connect, commune, and cement their skills on the board.

+ “It just felt like the place to be,” said Jefferson Pang, of the Brooklyn Banks, a site under the Brooklyn Bridge where he skated often in the 1980s, ’90s and into the 2000s.?

+ Though not specifically designed for the sport, the plaza was New York City’s most famous skateboarding spot until it was closed in 2010 for construction on the bridge.

+ Nike filmed a commercial there. Tony Hawk, the skateboarding legend and tireless advocate for the sport, helped cement the status of the Brooklyn Banks in 2000 when he included it in his popular video game.

+ Hawk's nonprofit, The Skatepark Project, is working to reopen the Brooklyn Banks, and this time, as an officially sanctioned skateboarding site.

+ The Skatepark Project has helped build 661 skate parks nationally.

AFP: Ukraine could boycott Paris Olympics if Russian athletes take part

+ @AlexiLalas: The USMNT currently has no Sporting Director overseeing US men's/women's National Team programs, no GM overseeing USMNT, and no USMNT coach. We're 114 days from U20 men's WC, 141 days from Gold Cup, 175 days from women's WC, 547 days from Olympics, and 1,229 days from men's WC.

Enjoy the ride + plan accordingly.

-Marc?

Marc A. Ross | Chief Communications Strategist @ Caracal

Caracal produces ITK Daily.

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