Happy Saturday.
Here’s today’s ITK Daily.
To be ITK, know this:
Insight | Putin and Xi: Look to Beijing for the real reason behind the Ukraine invasion
Op-ed for the Hill Micheal Keane and I penned back on March 14, 2022.
"Russia and China have an overlapping strategic interest in taking down the United States, as well as complementary business needs."
Access the opinion editorial here.
‘Oh my God, it’s really happening’: A year later, Russia’s war has profoundly reshaped Europe. Here’s what those shocking early days were like for the EU and NATO leaders making the decisions. Politico
+ “Has our world completely forgotten the mistakes of the 20th century? Where does appeasement policy usually lead to?”
One year of war as told by Ukrainian generals: Three men who were behind the success of the Ukrainian army's counteroffensives have gained hero status in the country. Coming from the post-Soviet era, they are familiar with the military culture of both Russia and NATO. Le Monde
+ General Zaluzhny made two choices. First, he decided to fight the enemy head-on when it was a question of the capital's survival, such as the battle at Hostomel airport in the invasion's early days. Admittedly, this was lost but it nevertheless prevented the Russian commandos from rushing into Kyiv. Similarly, the Battle of Irpin brought the assault in the suburbs to a halt. The second choice was to let the enemy advance deep along the roads, even if it meant losing territory, in order to stretch its lines so much that the columns of tanks could be more easily ambushed or surrounded through unconventional tactics.
The secret diary of a Ukrainian soldier: Death and drones on the eastern front: He had never been to war before. Then he was sent to defend Bakhmut from the Russians. 1843 Magazine
Inside Boris Johnson’s war room the moment Russia invaded Ukraine: Cobra meetings at dawn, secure lines to Biden, anti-tank missiles, and Partygate fury – how the ex-PM and his team faced up to Putin’s brutal assault on an ally. I News
+ At the time of the invasion, this concern was a sideshow for most voters, transfixed by the horrors of events inside Ukraine; before long, this would drive a cost of living crisis which has haunted Britain ever since.
‘Something was badly wrong’: When Washington realized Russia was actually invading Ukraine: A first-ever oral history of how Washington insiders saw the warning signs of a European land war, their frantic attempts to stop it — and the moment Putin actually crossed the border. Politico
+ "His (Putin) conviction was that without controlling Ukraine and its choices, it’s not possible for Russia to be a great power and have this sphere of influence that he believes is essential. And it’s not possible for him to be a great Russian leader without accomplishing that.
+ "He (Putin) thought that the Europeans were distracted."
+ "The president made the decision to declassify some of our intelligence relatively early on, which is always a complicated choice to make. Along with my colleagues in the intelligence community, the DNI and others, I believe strongly that it was the right choice. I had seen too many instances where Putin had created false narratives that we never caught up to."
+ “President Zelenskyy in that January conversation was very focused. He was in a bind. He did not want to spark an economic or political panic.”
+ "It’s our impression that the basic decision to invade and a lot of the planning was in a circle of probably no more than three or four people around Putin."
+ " Our analysts here never underestimated the sense of Ukrainian determination — this was their territory and they were going to defend it — what I think it’s probably fair to say is that we did not understand clearly enough how ineffective the Russian military was going to be."
+ “People did start thinking about Taiwan quite early, thinking it’s very important we get this right because the Chinese will be watching.”
What we’ve learned from Ukraine, one year on Tim Marshall
One year on, why Putin has already lost the war: “I do not see how Putin could maintain support of the elite for two or three years.” DefenseOne
+ For the foreseeable future, the Russian leader will preside over an economically stagnant country with greatly diminished geopolitical influence and a new subservience to China.
+ The throwback to the patriotic imperialist crusade of a 16th-century Russian tsar doesn’t really comport with Russia’s stated justifications for the invasion— the creeping threat of NATO, mistreatment of Russian speakers in the Donbass, “satanism”—but at least it's an honest rendering of how Putin views himself historically.
+ “An analog will be World War I, which started for Russia with a great spike of enthusiasm, people volunteering en masse etc. Yet in two years, everything changed. By the end of 1916, everyone wanted the tsar to go; by early 1917, the state collapsed.”
+ More than 1,000 big companies have left the country.
+ Open confrontation between Russian defense chief Sergei Shoigu and Putin pal and Wagner Mercenary group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin would have been impossible a year ago.
+ “If the Chinese get more directly involved…That would be a big change. I'm not sure it will change the results of the war, but it will certainly lengthen the war.”
+ No matter who is in charge when Putin leaves, they won’t be able to continue to shape policy in the same way.
+ Basically, there are a lot of potential players in Russia. They all fear Putin, but they will not fear anyone else. Anyone else will have to compromise with many, including those who want the war to end.”
Eight ways the Russia-Ukraine war changed the world: The conflict drove up food and energy prices, invigorated NATO, altered military doctrine, and revived American influence abroad. WSJ
1. It resurrected the Western alliance
2. Wars will be fought differently
3. The US industrial base gets a boost
4. America revives its influence abroad
5. Russia and China are moving ever closer
6. How energy flows around the globe have shifted
7. Russia is severed financially from the world
8. Many things cost more
This war may be heading for a cease-fire Sergey Radchenko
+ That may in fact be the preferred solution in other quarters — certainly in the global south, which sees nothing to gain from the conflict, and among many constituencies in the West. The parties most clearly opposed to the idea are those who are fighting it out on the ground: the Russians and the Ukrainians. For Ukraine, repelling an invading force that lays claim to almost one-quarter of its territory, such a position is understandable.
+ Today, the glittering metropolis of Seoul — savaged by the Korean War — stands as a reminder that it is not those who win the war who matter, but those who win the peace.
‘It’s complicated’: How Biden and Zelensky forged a wartime partnership: The relationship between the two leaders has become critical to the future of the international order. NYT
+ In what became regular conversations Biden, however, Zelensky relentlessly pushed for more, often skipping lightly over the gratitude for what the Americans had provided and instead presenting a list of what they had not.
+ Biden bristled at the president of the United States being treated like a supply sergeant, according to administration officials, believing that such lists should be discussed by their aides while the two leaders focused on higher-level questions.
NATO’s biggest European members float defense pact with Ukraine: WSJ reports French and German leaders told Ukrainian President Zelensky that he needs to consider peace talks.
Inside Ukraine’s colossal task of ‘rebranding’ itself during a war: For some countries, nation branding is about boosting tourism. For Ukraine, public perception is a matter of survival. Fast Company
+ Over the past year, Ukraine has worked hard to crystallize that new image around the concept of bravery.
+ Ukraine’s Ministry for Digital Transformation (alongside the ad agency Banda) embarked on this official nation branding campaign during a war.
+ The implications of how Ukraine presents itself to the world is nothing short of life or death—and one year into the war, one thing is clear: Ukraine’s resilience to Russia’s attack is likely to change the world’s perception of Ukraine for years to come, while Russia’s global image has completely and utterly collapsed.
+ The idea of a “nation brand” dates back to the 1990s, when former ad executive Simon Anholt coined the term, defining it as the sum of people’s perceptions of a country across industries like tourism, immigration, culture, and people.
+ To declare a new image while a country is at war is a strange thing to do; disillusioned even.
+ “Be Brave Like Ukraine” lit up 10,000 billboard screens in 20 countries and 150 cities, including Times Square.
+ It appeared on posters, T-shirts, hoodies and socks tagged as “Brave Merch.”
+ “Ukraine is not asking to be saved, but is taking on a heroic mission to defend Western liberal ideals.”
+ In the 70 years since the Nazi Party surrendered and the country was divided in four occupied zones, Germany has climbed all the way to the top of the Nation Brands Index 2022, followed by none other than Japan.
+ The reversal in perception is rooted in decades of actions. Germany and Japan didn’t simply tell other people why they should pay attention. They showed them.
+ After decades of German investing in design and production of consumer goods, people started associating German products with quality.
+ Then came a focus on culture—“Don’t forget Beethoven and Bach—they weren’t Nazis.”
+ Japan, meanwhile, grew its car industry (Toyota, Honda, Mazda) and came to be associated with leading musical instrument manufacturers like Yamaha and Kawai.
+ Perception is formed less by targeted campaigns and more by economic and cultural contributions.
+ “Vladimir Putin has destroyed the image of Russia and ordinary Russians for generations to come. It’s going to be a bad brand to be Russian for a really long time.”
+ Ukraine will need to rebuild itself while doing good, like contributing to the climate crisis, and rebuilding its power grid using green energy instead of fossil fuels.
+ Ukraine’s National Service has launched 14 custom stamp collections highlighting Ukraine’s resilience, including a stamp by artist Boris Groh, depicting a Ukrainian guard raising a middle finger at the Moskva.
Are we prepared for ‘eternal war’ in Ukraine? One year on, senior officials are pessimistic. Tom McTague
+ In public, the talk might still be of liberating every inch of Ukrainian territory, but speak privately to those in London, Paris or Washington, and a cynical and sombre mood emerges.
+ Here the talk is less of sweeping Ukrainian advances to come and more of a conflict that is likely to descend ever further into the anarchic quagmire before it stands a chance of emerging, grasping towards some kind of settlement.
+ The overwhelming consensus is that the war in Ukraine is likely to get a lot more chaotically unpredictable before it settles — if it ever does.
+ For many in London, Berlin and Paris, today, Ukraine’s best-case scenario is to stabilise the front sufficiently to allow it to emerge as a viable, independent state, able to defend itself — to be able to breathe and live as a relatively normal country, to trade and grow, export and settle.
+ The question Western diplomats are now asking themselves is what this “minimal breathable scenario” now looks like for Ukraine?
+ Three basic factors: first, giving Ukraine the capability to be able to stop Russia’s constant aerial bombardment beyond a future ceasefire; second, to ensure Ukraine’s free access to the Black Sea, and third, to secure a stable front.
+ “Right now, it's not time to talk about peace, it is time to arm them. I never thought as a progressive politician that I would be saying that.” -- Candaian Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly
Yellen confronts Russian officials at G20 meeting: NYT reports in a private session, Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen said the Russians were “complicit in Putin’s atrocities,” according to remarks shared by a US official.
‘Like Icarus’: Russian mercenary Yevgeny Prigozhin falls foul of Kremlin old guard: Wagner Group’s influence wanes as Moscow’s military establishment reasserts control. FT
WP: China calls for end of sanctions against Russia, and ceasefire in Ukraine
As China calls for peace, US believes Beijing is considering artillery and drone deliveries to Moscow: WSJ reports US intelligence shows possible Chinese weapons deliveries to help Moscow stave off expected Ukrainian offensive this year.
China's plan for peace in Ukraine thin on solutions: DW reports since China's top diplomat Wang Yi announced Beijing's plan for a political settlement in Ukraine, speculation has been rife about its role in resolving the crisis. The plan has now been released.
China's global peacemaker aspiration: Beijing is using the war to position itself as a new global peace broker against a “warmongering” United States and the current US-led security order.
China’s global influence worries US majority: AP-NORC poll: Just 40% of US adults approve of how President Joe Biden is handling relations with China, a new poll shows, with a majority anxious about Beijing’s influence as the White House finds its agenda increasingly shaped by global rivalries. AP
+ About 6 in 10 say they are gravely concerned about China, the world’s second-largest economy after the United States, according to the survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
+ Concern about China’s global influence as a threat to the US is similar to last year but has grown steadily in recent years from 54% just after Biden took office and 48% in January 2020.
Reuters: Ukraine's Zelenskiy says meeting with China 'desirable'
+ Zelensky plans to meet Xi Jinping.
AP: Blinken heads to Asia, with China, Russia tensions soaring
China reportedly negotiating with Russia to supply kamikaze drones: The US and Germany have warned China not to deliver weapons to Russia. According to information obtained by Der Spiegel, however, Beijing and Moscow are said to be negotiating the purchase of 100 strike drones, which could be delivered as soon as April.
Germany woos India as an ally against Russia: DW reports India has not condemned the Russian attack on Ukraine and does not support sanctions. During his upcoming visit to India, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will seek to win the country over to the Western position.
As India shakes off shackles, it emerges as global economic power: New infrastructure, regulatory reforms, and digitization buttress its strength. Greg Ip
+ For what seems like forever, India was a story of unfulfilled potential: abundant labor and entrepreneurial energy hobbled by lousy infrastructure, a meddlesome state, stifling regulation, and a deep ambivalence about engagement with the broader world.
+ It might be time to retire that story. In fact, 2023 could be the year India finally emerges as a global economic heavyweight.
+ The bullish case on India always starts with demographics. This year, it is expected to officially surpass China as the world’s most populous country, and one that is much younger than China and most of the West.
+ The Biden administration has clearly concluded that while India might be a flawed democracy, those flaws don’t diminish the appeal of having such a large and influential economic power in its corner as the geopolitical contest with two true autocracies, China and Russia, heats up.
Nigeria election 2023: Who are the presidential candidates? Only three out of 18 candidates stand a realistic chance of winning the presidency on February 25. Bola Tinubu, Atiku Abubakar, and Peter Obi each believe they can win the election in Africa's most populous state. DW
+ About 93 million Nigerians in a country of 200 million people are registered to vote, according to electoral body INEC, but only 87 million are holders of a permanent voter card (PVC), a main requirement to cast a ballot. The election will be Africa’s largest democratic exercise.
+ A presidential candidate must receive the largest number of votes cast nationwide and at least a quarter of the vote in no fewer than 24 of the country's 36 states.
+ If no one clears both hurdles, the top two candidates will compete in a run-off. The constitution says the run-off must take place within 21 days of the announcement of the result.
+ the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it expects to declare the winner of the polls by Feb. 27.
+ The swearing-in of the president-elect is scheduled to take place on May 29, the anniversary of Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999.
Jill Biden tells young Namibians ‘you are the keepers of democracy’: WP reports in the keystone moment of her trip to Africa, the first lady spoke to more than a thousand students at Namibia University of Science and Technology.
Macron to go on four-nation tour of central Africa: Le Monde reports the French president will arrive in Gabon on March 1 before visiting Angola, the Republic of Congo, and finally the Democratic Republic of Congo.
AFP: Turkey-Syria earthquake death toll surpasses 50,000
How American energy helped Europe best Putin: Moscow bet its energy shipments to Europe would stifle the opposition to its invasion of Ukraine. Instead, it sparked a backlash that has dramatically altered global trade. Politico
+ US companies provided 50 percent of Europe’s liquefied natural gas supplies in 2022, along with 12 percent of its oil.
+ “Europe’s energy divorce from Russia is nearly complete.”
+ US fossil fuel exports, particularly liquefied natural gas, played a huge role in keeping the European alliance together over the past year, said Daniel Yergin, vice chairman of S&P Global and author of “The New Map,” a book examining the geopolitics of energy.
+ “Russia is on its way to becoming a client state of China.”
Labour on course for landslide election victory as poll shows them beating Tories on almost every policy area: I News reports Rishi Sunak has failed to close the gap on Keir Starmer’s party despite strong public support for the Government’s stance on supporting Ukraine.
Rishi Sunak to unveil Brexit deal within days: The Times reports Sunak faces clash with Eurosceptics after ‘breakthroughs’ in talks with Ursula von der LeyenPM faces clash with Eurosceptics after ‘breakthroughs’ in talks with von der Leyen.
Rishi Sunak’s high-stakes gamble to finally get Brexit done: Negotiating a new Northern Ireland protocol would bring tangible benefits, but succeed or fail, there will be political costs. FT
+ Ten years have passed since a fresh-faced British prime minister David Cameron promised a referendum on Brexit, a gamble that sowed the seeds of his political destruction. + Now, four prime ministers later, Rishi Sunak is taking the biggest wager of his political career: trying to clear up the mess.
+ Sunak is already in a precarious position: the Conservatives trail the Labour opposition by about 20 points in the polls, his party is fractious, his two predecessors, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, are agitating in the wings, and a general election must be called by the end of next year.
+ Sunak hopes Biden will attend events in Belfast this year to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, which ended decades of conflict in the region.
Boris Johnson is waiting for Rishi Sunak to drop the ball on Brexit: The longer the PM waits for his deal, the weaker his position. Some ministers fear the May era is repeating itself. The Times
+ Under Sunak’s plan, almost all checks on goods crossing between Britain and Northern Ireland would be scrapped, while for the first time since Brexit, Westminster would be free to set Northern Ireland’s VAT and state aid policy.
+ The deal would give the Northern Irish assembly and the UK government the right to be consulted on new EU laws affecting the province and the potential for them to be disapplied.
+ There would be a role for the European Court of Justice as a court of last resort after referrals from the Northern Irish courts.
+ Sunak believes that the deal meets all seven of the DUP’s tests.
For Northern Ireland and Scotland, independence seems inevitable: The Tory split over a new EU deal and — paradoxically — Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation were the latest evidence that the UK will come apart. Max Hastings
+ It was a Frenchman who recently observed that every nation has its own massive, historically intractable problem.
+ For France, he said, this is the stubborn popular opposition to raising the national pension age in response to ever-increasing longevity.
+ For Germany, it is still the specter of Hitler.
+ For the US, it is guns.
+ For Britain, it is Ireland.
+ For more than five centuries, British rule over Ireland, almost unfailingly incompetent as well as cruel, inflicted misery on the Irish people and created military and political crises for England.
+ The fact that the English were a Protestant society, while most Irish people were Catholic, made matters worse: Until the mid-19th century, England was in a state of almost permanent strife with Catholic Europe.
+ Then came Irish independence in 1921.
+ Today, Northern Ireland has a population of under 1.9 million, 42% of them Catholic, while 5 million inhabit the rest of the island, ruled from Dublin.
+ The UK’s departure from the EU has proved a disaster for prospects of Irish togethernes.
+ Sunak is now obliged to wrestle with the problem of how to square a circle: to fulfill Britain’s legally binding undertaking to the EU, and to sustain the Good Friday Agreement, while averting a Protestant revolt
+ The UK is still far from escaping a northern breakaway, because the demographics lean emphatically toward it.
+ In Ireland as in Scotland, demographics and thus time are on the side of change. As old instinctive Unionists die off, the young favor a different agenda.
+ Localism is in fashion almost everywhere that votes are counted.
The Times: Prince Harry ‘wants apology’ before he commits to King Charles coronation
Globe + Mail: Chrystia Freeland rings national security alarm about founders of Canadian bank with suspected ties to China
O’Toole blames China for Conservative election results: “We lost eight or nine seats to foreign interference,” the former leader says during leadership postmortem. Politico
+ "The communist leadership in Beijing did interfere in the last federal election by spreading disinformation through proxies on Chinese-language social media platforms that contributed to the defeat of a number of Conservative MPs."
+ Pressure has been building on the Trudeau government to take action.
+ A report last December by Global News, citing unnamed sources, said the Conservatives had identified 13 ridings where they believe interference campaigns by foreign actors targeted the party’s candidates.
AP: Biden ready to run, US first lady says
DeSantis wants to roll back press freedoms — with an eye toward overturning Supreme Court ruling: Politico reports Florida Republicans are seeking to weaken laws protecting journalists.
"Never argue with a man who buys ink by the barrel."
Benjamin Franklin's sane political advice apparently hasn't reached Tallahassee yet.
Trump works state-by-state to improve chances at Republican convention: WP reports the former president’s team is looking to take advantage of experience and early start to find advantages.
AP: GOP Rep. John James won’t seek Michigan’s open Senate seat
Movie to watch: The War Room: A documentary of the Bill Clinton 1992 presidential campaign and the team that ran it. IMDb
Joint statement on liquidity risks resulting from crypto-asset market vulnerabilities Press Release
+ The joint statement was issued by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
After multibillion-dollar fintech binge, Wall Street has a writedown hangover: Blue-chip firms spent big on companies promising new ways to make payments or manage money. Now they understand they overpaid. Bloomberg
+ In 2021, global spending on these so-called fintechs reached a fever pitch at $139.8 billion, almost triple the previous year’s level, according to researcher CB Insights.
+ In an ultralow-interest-rate environment, venture capital poured into fintech and raised the price of deals.
+ Stripe Inc., whose software allows merchants to take payments online and in person, saw payments volume growth drop from 60% in 2021 to 25% in 2022.
How the East Palestine train derailment fueled fear on TikTok: Responses from public officials have been confusing, inadequate or slow for some people, creating the perfect conditions for misinformation to spread on TikTok. NBC News
+ The train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, has turned TikTok into a hotbed of misinformation and conspiracy theories, prompting people beyond the region to worry about potential repercussions of the chemical release.
AP: Ericsson to cut 8% of its global workforce
Bloomberg: Wall Street’s ChatGPT nightmare is over before it starts as banks crackdown
+ Traders experiment but quickly find the AI system’s limits.
+ JPMorgan, Goldman, and Citigroup restrict access to the technology
Why aren’t teenagers driving anymore? Parents are baffled as their kids delay or forgo a driver’s license. WP
+ The allure of independent mobility might be dimmed by the digital connectivity that didn’t exist when previous generations came of age. Teens can summon an Uber or Lyft with the tap of a finger.
Audi eyes possible US factory in another sign of subsidies bearing fruit: WP reports White House-backed legislation that incentivizes domestic manufacturing is drawing interest and a big investment.
GM battery partner tied to China gets cold shoulder in Washington: Microvast has trouble even getting lawmakers to engage about scrutiny of its US Energy Department grant. Bloomberg
+ There's an element of political theater here. Republicans are hoping to make a meal out of any faults in President Joe Biden’s vast government outlays ahead of the 2024 election cycle.
+ Democratic Senator Joe Manchin also has been blasting the Biden administration for watering down sections of the Inflation Reduction Act that were hawkish on China to appease the auto industry and achieve its EV goals.
+ How can the US go electric after ceding battery manufacturing and technology to China for the past decade? Is it realistic to decouple from a geopolitical foe that dominates large swaths of the EV supply chain?
+ Microvast makes for an ideal whipping boy for politicians whose lack of long-term planning and internecine squabbles have played a role in the US falling behind in the global battery race.
India's surging SUV demand fueled by rough roads and big families: Nikkei reports the sport utility vehicles to overtake hatchbacks in accelerating the auto market.
Soy, oat, and almond drinks can be called milk, FDA says: NYT reports plant-based beverage makers hailed the agency’s decision but objected to the recommendation for labels to specify the nutritional differences with cow’s milk.
The latest leather alternative is made from shrimp shells: A growing number of startups are developing materials that mimic the look and feel of natural textiles, without the negative impact of synthetics. Bloomberg
+ TômTex, a two-year-old startup that makes textiles out of shrimp shells, mushroom waste and other biomaterials.
+ TômTex, which means “shrimp textile” in Vietnamese, plans to increase its production capacity of biodegradable leather to 100,000 square feet this year.
+ Globally, apparel makers emit more greenhouse gases than aviation and shipping combined, and the United Nations Environment Programme estimates that by 2050, the fashion industry could use up a quarter of the world’s carbon budget.
+ TômTex’s model aims to tackle two problems at once: finding biodegradable materials for garment manufacturers and upcycling mountains of marine waste.
+ The darker side of big fashion: Some 100 billion items of clothing are produced globally each year, biodegradable fabrics remain scarce and expensive, and few new garments are or can be recycled.
+ For now, alt fabrics make up just a small fraction of the apparel industry. But shifting consumer sentiment, rising regulatory pressure and climbing fossil fuel prices are gradually leveling the playing field.
Bloomberg: Downtown Chicago now has more residents than before the pandemic
+ Loop’s population is estimated to have grown 10% since 2020.
+ Future of downtown will be more residential: Loop Alliance CEO.
Lockdowns are over. WFH isn’t. Why? It’s hard to believe we will return to 95 percent attendance at the workplace in my lifetime. Tim Harford
+ Much of the world remains in the grip of what economists have called ‘Long Social Distancing’
+ Data from the UK’s Office for National Statistics, while not directly comparable, suggests a similar picture: between 30 and 40 percent of workers say they’ve worked from home “in the past seven days”, and there is little sign of that number falling.
+ Most of the people working from home are no longer doing so out of caution or social responsibility. They’re doing it because they like it.
+ It raises the question: What other personal and cultural habits have we acquired that we should be rethinking? It shouldn’t take a global pandemic for us to find better ways to live our lives.
Promo creep Seth Godin
WP: HBO’s famed ‘Succession’ to end with upcoming fourth season
AP: Milan fashion celebrates girl power at Gucci, Cormio, Tod’s
Haircuts and cheese curds: 10 hours at the world’s largest truck stop: Iowa 80 is “Trucker’s Disneyland," complete with a dentist, barber shop, and museum. One reporter set out to see it all. WP
+ Part-trucker base camp, part-wacky tourist attraction, Iowa 80 is so much more than a place to get gas. It’s a 24-hour megacomplex that opened in 1964 and hasn’t closed its doors since.
Today: Major League Soccer kicks off its 28th season.
England’s prized soccer league to face regulation and tough new ownership rules CNBC
+ Among the regulator’s powers will be the ability to prevent clubs from joining tournaments that do not meet certain criteria, likely including “breakaway, closed-shop” leagues.
+ The government is also seeking to ramp up the vetting process of club owners, imposing “stronger due diligence on sources of wealth and a requirement for robust financial planning.”
+ MP Stuart Andrew said in the House of Commons Thursday it was “the most radical overhaul of football governance since the rules were first invented in a London pub back in 1863.”
How socialism boosts American sport: The NFL’s rules mean that success is spread widely, unlike in European football. Economist
Mercedes’s F1 dynasty ended with a thud. Toto Wolff has a plan to bring it back. After a string of bad bets on new regulations, the most dominant team of the modern era is now playing catch-up to Red Bull as the 2023 season begins. WSJ
2023 is the year America takes over Formula 1 The Athletic
+ F1 the business has bet big on Las Vegas.
+ Unlike with any other race on the calendar, F1 will also serve as the promoter for the grand prix, meaning it is in charge of every aspect of its running and the costs involved.
+ Liberty Media has invested close to half a billion dollars in the race, including acquiring a 39-acre site to house the pits and paddock. Designed in the shape of the F1 logo, the permanent structure’s roof will become a visible part of the Vegas skyline.
+ Unlike any other grand prix, the race (the second to last of the year, set for Nov. 18) will take place on a Saturday night, starting at 10 p.m. local time. It will capture the early risers on a Sunday in Europe, the late-nighters in the US, and make for a proper spectacle as cars streak down the Strip at 200 mph.
+ The money helps — the estimated economic impact of F1 in Las Vegas exceeds $1 billion — but the support from the local authorities also points to F1’s newfound place as a major sport in the US.
+ The Clark County Commission unanimously approved shutting down the Strip to host the race for the next 10 years, saying it anticipated “a lifetime in partnership” with F1.
Now streaming: Formula 1: Drive to Survive | Season 5 on Netflix. Watch the trailer here.
MLB catchers wary of looming robo umps amid rules changes AP
+ While pitch clocks, bigger bases and other rules changes debut this year at the major league level, the Automated Ball-Strike System will receive its biggest experiment yet at Triple-A.
+ ABS will be used four days per week to call every pitch at baseball’s highest minor league level.
+ On the other three days, umpires will traditionally call balls and strikes with a challenge system in place — teams will be able to appeal a handful of calls to the so-called robo-zone each game.
+ Manfred, who last summer told ESPN that ABS could reach the majors by 2024, has cautioned this spring that the robo-umps remain in “the evaluation phase.”
+ In order to be adopted in the big leagues, ABS would need to be approved by an 11-member competition committee that includes four players.
Enjoy the ride + plan accordingly.
-Marc
Marc A. Ross | Chief Communications Strategist @ Caracal
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