ITK Daily | November 25
Happy Friday.
Here’s today’s ITK Daily.
To be ITK, know this:
US poised to grant 雪佛龙 license to pump oil in Venezuela: WSJ reports the move would come just as Western sanctions on Russia threaten to tighten global supplies.
US enters a new era of direct confrontation with Iran: NYT reports the Biden administration has imposed new sanctions on Tehran and expressed support for protesters, as the Iranian government aids Russia in the Ukraine war and continues nuclear enrichment.
Bloomberg: EU’s Michel to meet Xi as Europe forges own path on China
+ Visit follows a trip by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to Beijing
+ EU’s ties with China strained over the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Bloomberg: China, Arab nations to hold summit in Saudi Arabia next month
+ Visit to a key energy partner would be Xi’s first since 2016
+ Saudi Arabia is a major oil supplier to the world’s No. 2 economy
Apple iPhone factory in China offers $1,400 payments to quell worker unrest: WSJ reports the tech giant says it is working with 富士康 after criticism from labor-rights groups over the police beating of workers.
+ The payout, in general, exceeds a month’s wages for Foxconn’s blue-collar staff.
+ Hundreds of workers joined a protest over bonus delays and food shortages at the plant -- which employs over 200,000 and is estimated to make about 60% of the world's iPhones -- on Tuesday night.
+ The clashes have largely been censored in Chinese media, and domestic social media platforms have deleted images and videos posted online.
Number of Foxconn employees: 1,290,000
China's zero-COVID policy pushes society to the limit: Despite sweeping lockdowns, coronavirus case numbers continue to rise in cities across China. Frustrated citizens are taking big risks to protest the draconian measures.?DW
+ China’s daily COVID infections climbed to a record high, exceeding the previous peak in April.
+ Though no city-wide lockdowns have been announced, the widespread restrictions are increasingly paralyzing economic activities.
Xi Jinping is taking advantage of Biden's soft touch: Assurances to China contrast with call for Russian regime change.?Brahma Chellaney
+ Xi wants Biden to live up to "Five Nos" which Beijing claims the US president has committed to: No to changing China's authoritarian system; no to containing China; no to seeking US economic decoupling from China; no to a policy of "one China, one Taiwan;" and no to conflict or a new Cold War with China.
US can't decouple from China, says Beijing's ambassador to Tokyo: Nikkei reports Kong Xuanyou says readjusting supply chains for security reasons 'not easy.'
The cost of America’s ban on Chinese chips: The new US technology rules will hurt China’s chipmakers. But they will also add to inflationary pressures on many products.?FT
Nikkei: Malaysia's Anwar sworn in as PM, pledges to fight corruption
Bloomberg: More Thai restaurants join Michelin list in boost for tourism
+ Michelin awards star ratings to five more Bangkok restaurants
+ Thai restaurants continue to wait for its first three-star rating
Bloomberg: Kremlin faces rising ire from wives, mothers of mobilized troops
Ukraine war spurs arms makers to boost production: WSJ reports European makers of lower-tech systems and munitions, such as mortars and rounds, are pushing to increase capacity.
+ Hungary’s parliament will not vote to ratify Sweden and Finland’s accession to Nato until next year, premier Viktor Orbán said on Thursday.
The barbed wire curtain: Poland fortifies border with Russia: Poland has begun building a razor wire fence along its 210-km-long border with the Russian exclave Kaliningrad to keep out migrants from the Middle East and North Africa and give locals a greater sense of security.?DW
The French government is developing a new ultra-secure phone for Emmanuel Macron: Le Monde reports French authorities are looking to modernize their current encrypted telecommunication tools, which are secure but slower and more rigid than those of the GAFAM.
Scotland’s push to secede from UK won’t go away?Bloomberg
Lula sets out expansive vision for Brazilian foreign policy: President-elect diverges from Bolsonaro and emphasizes multilateralism, environment, and greater regional integration.?FT
‘Freedom Convoy’ risked ‘irreparable harm’ to Canada-US trade: Freeland: Global News reports testifying before the Public Order Emergency Commission, the finance minister said her concerns went far beyond the immediate economic harm the protests against COVID-19 public health measures was causing to Canada.
Global News: Ottawa pledges $1.6B to improve infrastructure as part of new climate strategy
+ Ottawa also plans on using the funds to work with Indigenous communities on the development of region-specific health initiatives linked to changing climate conditions.
Why artificial intelligence is now a primary concern for Henry Kissinger?David Ignatius
Jan. 6 committee staffers angry at Liz Cheney for focusing so much on Trump in final report: WP reports fifteen former and current staffers expressed concerns that important findings unrelated to Donald Trump will not become available to the American public.
Josh Hawley’s 2022 election folly: His analysis is refuted by the voting evidence, and most of his favorites lost.?Karl Rove
+ "The principal reason Republicans came up short was that just when Americans were ready to vote for them to check Democratic excesses, the GOP nominated too many radicals and weirdos."
How one man quietly stitched the American safety net over four decades: Robert Greenstein isn’t a household name. But his career lobbying for the poor has changed the lives of millions of Americans.?Vox
How 'Labour Isn't Working' did the job for the Conservatives: Alan Shipman discusses how 盛世长城 and Saatchi's 'Labour Isn't Working' campaign became the poster-child of political advertising.?OpenLearn
Closure of Twitter Brussels office prompts online safety fears: FT reports digital policy executives’ departure elicits unease over adherence to EU rules on disinformation and hate speech.
Bloomberg: Binance’s Zhao flags possible $1 billion for distressed assets
+ Binance will make another bid for bankrupt Voyager Digital
+ Zhao adopting a “loose approach†for industry rescue fund
Sam Bankman-Fried’s plans to save the world went down in flames: The FTX founder pledged to donate billions. His firm’s swift collapse wiped out his wealth and ambitious philanthropic endeavors.?WSJ
领英推è
FTX’s Bahamas crypto empire: Stimulants, subterfuge, and a spectacular collapse: Sam Bankman-Fried's image of monkish aloofness met reality in the Bahamas, where the 30-year-old crypto billionaire lived in a guarded island compound, with every need closely catered to and the world’s elite at his beck and call.?WP
How magical thinking enabled the rise of FTX — and led to its fall: The collapse of the exchange exposes deep contradictions at the heart of the crypto sector.?FT
CNET: FTX 's Bankman-Fried will attend NYT DealBook Summit despite bankruptcy
SBF is still a go.
Wild.
+ @howardlindzon: it's gross. He's a financial terrorist and you are glamorizing it after you sat on cnbc riffing on him as J.P. Morgan. 'a lot of folks' are asking you to stop giving the sociopath a platform
It's finance as entertainment.
For Andrew Ross Sorkin, it's a classic where you sit is where you stand move.
Andrew Ross Sorkin is an entertainer and promoter.
As PT Barnum knew, clowns sell.
You have to assume Andrew Ross Sorkin has a deal to write the definitive book on SBF/FTX, which of course, will land on Netflix as a multi-episode startup drama.
Airbnb is more successful than ever. Why is everyone so mad at it??Guests are over fees and chores. Hosts say they can’t fill vacancies. But the company keeps cashing in.?WP
+ Fed up with fees.
+ According to Makarand Mody, an associate professor of hospitality marketing at Boston University who studies Airbnb, complaints about pricing have bubbled up over the years. But the fee outcry reached a fever pitch in spring 2021, prompting the company to vow a review.
+ According to Airbnb, 45 percent of listings globally do not charge a cleaning fee, and of those that do, the fee is on average less than 10 percent of the total reservation cost.
It’s not your imagination: Shopping on 亚马逊 has gotten worse?Geoffrey A. Fowler
Dubuque? We don’t fly there anymore. Airlines say goodbye to regional airports.?Small-market airports have borne the brunt of schedule cutbacks, with some losing commercial service entirely. That has travelers facing steeper fares, inconvenient routes or long drives to bigger terminals.?NYT
大众 faces new problem in China: Homegrown competitors: Chinese electric-car makers are increasingly taking market share from the German giant in its largest market.?WSJ
+ VW said it expects its market share in China to be around 16% this year. That is down almost a fifth since 2019, when it stood at about 20%, according to data provided by Jato Dynamics, a consumer research group.?
Meet Bain Capital Ventures first marketing partner, Allison Braley ?BCV
Is wine fake??Wine commands wealth, prestige, and attention from aficionados. How much of what they admire is in their heads??Scott Alexander
+ Consider the famous Pepsi Challenge: Pepsi asked consumers to blind-taste-test Pepsi vs. Coke; most preferred Pepsi. But Coke maintains its high market share partly because when people are asked to nonblindly taste Coke and Pepsi (as they always do in the real world) people prefer Coke.?
+ Think of it as the brain combining two sources of input to make a final taste perception: the actual taste of the two sodas and a preconceived notion (probably based on great marketing) that Coke should taste better.
Can a computer ever be a sommelier??Recorded in February 2022, a Brigadoon Monthly Call with Joe Fattorini . Joe is known around the world as "Obi Wine Kenobi," the expert presenter on The Wine Show. For the last 20 years, Joe has sold wine to restaurants, hotels, bars, and celebrity weddings as one of the UK's leading wine merchants. Today Joe guides 250 million viewers in 107 countries through The Wine Show, as well as wine lovers at sea as an ambassador to Celebrity Cruises.?Brigadoon Radio
Thankful for libraries?Charles M. Blow
Barkley Marathons: The Barkley Marathons is known as one of the most challenging races in the ultrarunning world. Inspired by a jailbreak, race founder Gary "Lazarus Lake" Cantrell created the mysterious race, which runs in late March or early April in the Tennessee hills.?Brigadoon
This hiker just completed the 6,800-Mile Great Western Loop in less than 200 days: Nick “Chezwick†Gagnon became the fastest person to circumnavigate the enormous route, which takes in sections of five major thru-hikes.?Outside
+ Nick Gagnon’s recent completion of the Great Western Loop, a massive thru-hike that links together sections of the Pacific Crest, Pacific Northwest, Continental Divide, Grand Enchantment, and Arizona trails in a nearly 7,000-mile circle.?
+ Nobody knows how many hikers have completed the route, but only two others have documented their successful journeys: backpacker Jeff Garmire in 2018 and guide Andrew Skurka in 2007.?
+ Garmier completed it in 208 days and 15 hours, while Skurka finished it in 213 days and six hours.
The Wave Project: this is not surfing — it’s schoolwork: The program helps struggling pupils to re-engage with education. Rachel Sylvester sees it in action.?The Times
+ They learn physics by measuring the speed and length of waves and geography by studying the ebb and flow of tides. They study biology by examining the ecosystem of rock pools and maths by following the co-ordinates of painted stones hidden on the beach.
World Cup: Mature Neymar on a mission to bring trophy back to Brazil: The team’s ‘bow and arrow’ still wants to entertain but has evolved into a midfield playmaker.?FT
+ At 30, Neymar is a different footballer than the poor kid from the port town of Santos who emerged a decade ago.
+ This may be his last shot at winning Brazil’s sixth World Cup.?
+ The coach, Tite, calls Neymar their “bow and the arrowâ€. The playmaker is surely the most gifted player at the tournament after Lionel Messi.
+ Like many Brazilians, he sees football as an aesthetic performance, almost a dance.?
At this World Cup, nationality is a fluid concept: More than 130 players at the World Cup represent a country other than that of their birth. A few of them committed only months before the World Cup.?NYT
+ @FOS: NEWS: Apple is among the parties interested in buying Manchester United, per @samuelluckhurst.
苹果 ?had around $48 billion in cash as of the end of September.?
Enjoy the ride + plan accordingly.
-Marc?
Marc A. Ross | Founder + Team Principal @ Caracal
Caracal produces ITK Daily.
Caracal is a geopolitical business communications firm specializing in global business issues at the intersection of globalization, disruption, and politics.
Caracal believes to be a world-class geopolitical business communicator, you need global street smarts coupled with holistic, high-frequency, and high-low communications.