ITK Daily | March 19
Protectionism, Asa Hutchinson, Nvidia, Cocoa, ESPN, plus 1,000 more actionable insights.
ITK Daily is geopolitical business news + intelligence for comms pros.
Always Be Communicating.
Happy Tuesday.
Here’s today’s ITK Daily:
*** Globalization + Geopolitics ***
How China, Russia, and Iran are forging closer ties: Assessing the economic threat posed by the anti-Western axis. Economist
As Vladimir Putin celebrates his sham landslide Russian presidential election “win,” the EU plans to agree to new sanctions today against his mafia-like state and security apparatus.
Nikkei: China and North Korea applaud Putin's election victory
Bloomberg: West condemns ‘sick’ Putin’s rigged election win as Xi sends congrats to Moscow
GOTV: Putin won a record 87 percent of the vote, on a 73 percent turnout — beating even the most enthusiastic pro-Kremlin predictions.
AP: Russian disinformation is about immigration. The real aim is to undercut Ukraine aid
How to help Ukraine prevail: The international community must step up its support from sanctions to reconstruction. Margus Tsahkna
The Brussels Times: Beating spyware: Ministers and top officials given new Belgian-made secure smartphones
+ The closed system technology was developed entirely in Belgium with proprietary components, by the new entity Belgian Secure Communications (BSC), under the Justice Minister Paul Van Tigchelt.
News Hour: Biden and Netanyahu hold first call in more than a month as divide grows over war, food crisis in Gaza
Israel sending delegation to Washington to discuss US concerns over Rafah invasion: WSJ reports the US said Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has agreed to send a team of officials to Washington to discuss US concerns over a full-scale military operation in Rafah that would potentially put over a million civilians at risk.
Pressure on UK to follow US in toughening stance on TikTok: Politico reports London risks getting caught up in Washington’s burgeoning battle with China over the app.
Without realising it, Britain has become a nation of immigrants: Another surprise: it’s very good at assimilating people. Economist
London’s population has ‘almost certainly’ surpassed its pre-pandemic peak of 10.1m.
Anger, denials, and apathy over Tory ‘plots’ to oust Rishi Sunak: The Conservative psychodrama refuses to die with the moment of maximum danger for the prime minister identified as immediately after the May local elections. The Times
Penny Mordaunt insists she isn’t trying to topple Sunak — yet: The Times reports the Leader of the Commons has many centrist admirers, and has used her role to court grassroots Tory associations.
Penny Mordaunt isn’t the answer: Her only ideology is mushy Blairite progressivism. Patrick O’Flynn
AP: North Korea resumes missile tests, raising tensions with its rivals after their military drills’ end
Relations between Japan and South Korea are blossoming: But how long can the good times last? Economist
Taiwan’s tough call on how to stop China: Bigger weapons or lots of cheap ones: US has pushed less-expensive asymmetrical tactics to resist possible Chinese invasion. WSJ
Senators to get briefed on TikTok: Members of the Senate Commerce and Intelligence committees will get a classified briefing on Wednesday about TikTok and the House-passed bill to force its sale, according to two aides with direct knowledge of the briefing, Punchbowl News reports.
From the deep sea to DC — How China fears have put ocean-floor mining on Washington’s radar: The possibility of harvesting the seabed is growing in popularity among lawmakers amid a push to extract rare minerals for defense applications. WSJ
China turns on the charm for foreigners but its allure has faded: Beijing is increasing flights and easing visa rules, but business executives and diplomats say trust could be hard to rebuild. WSJ
WP: Flood of Chinese imports could renew trade tensions, threaten US jobs
Bloomberg: New Zealand’s Luxon invited to visit China amid AUKUS tensions
The divisive politics of India’s movement to ‘reclaim’ temples: Hindu litigants are mounting court challenges to allow them to worship at mosques in moves Muslims see as intruding on their rights. FT
Haiti is almost like Mad Max, says UNICEF boss: The Times reports violence and anarchy grip the Caribbean nation after its airport, police stations, prisons, and government buildings were attacked by gangs.
Protectionism is running amok in the US: President Biden risks undermining sound economic policy and support for a key ally if he blocks the Nippon Steel deal. Michael Strain
America (still) has no industrial policy: Subsidies, tariffs, and good intentions don’t add up to what is needed. Rana Foroohar
A revolution in American foreign policy: Replacing greed, militarism, and hypocrisy with solidarity, diplomacy, and human rights. Bernie Sanders
*** US Politics + Elections ***
Trump defends ‘bloodbath’ comment as political storm grows: WSJ reports the Biden campaign linked Trump’s rhetoric at a Saturday rally to the Jan. 6 attack and other civil unrest.
Bloomberg: Trump rules out Vivek Ramaswamy as running mate as he eyes new team
+ Former president eyeing loyalty, ideological agreement in pick
+ Trump team aiming for smooth transition should he win election
WP: Pence’s refusal to back Trump points to a larger problem
Former Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) wrote in USA Today that he will not endorse Donald Trump, his party’s presumptive nominee for president, nor would he vote for President Biden in November.
WP: In Wisconsin, a vote for Biden or Trump could come down to grocery prices
Bloomberg: Biden set to crack down on auto emissions to accelerate EV sales
+ EPA expected to finalize tailpipe emission limits within days
+ Formula for calculating electric vehicle fuel use also coming
TSMC, Intel suppliers delay US plants on surging costs, labor crunch: Nikkei reports at least 5 chemical makers slow expansion as industry awaits CHIPS Act funds.
*** Disruption + Innovation ***
$2.5trn: The amount that the combined market capitalisation of Alphabet, Amazon, and Microsoft has increased by since the start of the AI boom.
xAI released the underlying code behind its Grok chatbot to the open source community.
Suno says its large language model will allow anyone to create professional-quality music
Bloomberg: Nvidia’s conference will be ‘Woodstock’ for AI developers
+ GTC this year is set to draw 300,000 in-person and virtual attendees for the debut of Nvidia Corp.’s B100
Why do Nvidia’s chips dominate the AI market? The firm has three big advantages. Economist
Nvidia enlists humanoid robotics’ biggest names for new AI platform, GR00T: TC reports the chipmaker refers to the new platform as “a general-purpose foundation model for humanoid robots.” In essence, the company is building an AI platform for the recent spate of entries into the category, including companies like 1X Technologies, Agility Robotics, Apptronik, Boston Dynamics, Figure AI, Fourier Intelligence, Sanctuary AI, Unitree Robotics and XPENG Robotics.
Cisco closes $28 billion acquisition of Splunk, betting big on AI: WSJ reports Cisco Systems closed its $28 billion all-cash acquisition of cybersecurity and analytics company Splunk on Monday.
Dan Yergin is concerned about AI-fueled boom in electricity use: Bloomberg reports meeting demand and transitioning to clean energy amid geopolitical tensions will dominate conversations among industry heavyweights at CERAWeek in Houston this week.
WSJ: Ailing EV maker Fisker to pause production for six weeks
Cocoa futures in New York reached an all-time high. The commodity’s price has soared by 98% since the start of 2024.
Bloomberg: Selena Gomez weighs sale of cosmetics brand valued at $2 billion
+ Rare Beauty has hired financial advisers to assess options
+ She will remain involved in the company whatever the outcome
These cities are winning the war for talent: A team of researchers unpacks the root issue in the war for talent and finds that it’s really a competition for cities to win residents. FC
https://www.fastcompany.com/91058195/these-cities-are-winning-the-war-for-talent
*** Culture ***
Nothing happen today.
*** Sport ***
ESPN boss Jimmy Pitaro’s chaotic race to remake the sports giant: Cable TV’s collapse is forcing the Disney property out of its comfort zone, from hiring risky talent to a streaming gambit that ticked off the NFL. WSJ
Enjoy the ride + plan accordingly.
-Marc
ITK Daily | March 19
