Happy Friday.
Here’s today’s ITK Daily.
To be ITK, know this:
Suspected Chinese spy balloon found over northern US: NBC News reports: “The United States government ... is tracking a high-altitude surveillance balloon that is over the continental United States right now," said a Pentagon spokesperson.
Chinese spy balloon tracked over US this week: WSJ reports the US tracked what officials described as a Chinese reconnaissance balloon over the continental US this week, in what would be an aggressive act of intelligence gathering over sensitive US national security sites. The sighting came days before Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to travel to Beijing.
Chinese spy balloon flying over US ‘right now,’ Pentagon says: WP reports US defense officials said the high-altitude balloon was spotted this week over Montana, but they would not specify its present whereabouts. The Pentagon considered shooting it down but opted not to out of fear the debris could cause injuries.
McCarthy calls for intel briefing on Chinese spy balloon over Montana: Politico reports lawmakers also demand "full and accurate accounting" of what happened.
+ BillFOXLA: NEW: House Speaker Kevin McCarthy says he is requesting a Gang of Eight briefing re: the Chinese spy balloon over the continental US.
+ Biden was advised against shooting it down due to debris risk.
+ Disclosure complicates top US diplomat’s planned China trip.
+ @LeeHudson_: Reps. Mike Gallagher and Raja Krishnamoorthi, the top R and D of the China Select Committee, on the Chinese spy balloon: “Indeed, the incident demonstrates that the CCP threat is not confined to distant shores — it is here at home, and we must act to counter this threat.”
+ @AndrewDesiderio: Sen. Wicker, top Republican on Senate Armed Services, on the Chinese spy balloon: “The Department of Defense owes Congress and the American people a full and accurate accounting of why US forces did not take proactive measures to address this airspace incursion...”
Q: So why did we go to war with China? Was it because of Taiwan?
A. No. A balloon.
The US is getting better at dropping intelligence to embarrass our competitors.
Also, the US is still good at not talking about how the USAF is running jet spy patrols 24-7 along the Chinese coast.
+ @RyanZinke: Shoot. It. Down. The Chinese spy balloon is clear provocation. In Montana we do not bow. We shoot it down. Take the shot.
FNC: 'SHOOT IT DOWN': Montana GOP demand Biden take out suspected Chinese spy balloon hovering over US for days
+ Gov. Greg Gianforte said he is 'deeply troubled' by the Chinese national security threats
Politico: Worries balloon over Chinese spying
Nikkei: China regrets weather balloon straying into US: Foreign Ministry
+ Beijing says the airship is for civilian meteorological purposes.
NBC News: China says suspected spy balloon over the US is 'civilian airship' used for weather research that was blown off course
Blinken postpones China trip as suspected spy balloon detected over US WP
+ Hours before the secretary of State was scheduled to depart for Beijing, the diplomatic visit was called off.
+ The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
+ Blinken was to be the first chief US diplomat to meet with Xi in China since 2017.
Pro-tip... Capitol Hill is now driving America's China foreign policy and strategic engagement.
US to boost military role in the Philippines in push to counter china: NYT reports Washington and Manila announced a plan to give the American military access to four new locations in the Southeast Asian country, a growing strategic partner in the region.
US seals crucial military deal with the Philippines close to China flashpoints: Deal expands Washington’s access to military bases near Taiwan and the South China Sea. Guardian
UK and Australia launch pact against Chinese economic ‘coercion’: Politico reports the move will be seen as an attempt to counter pressure placed on companies by Beijing to toe the line.
SCMP: China’s Xi Jinping a little sobered by Ukraine war, CIA chief William Burns says
+ He said the Chinese leader was probably surprised by Russia’s poor showing but warned not to underestimate Beijing and Moscow’s commitment to their partnership.
+ Burns added that Xi maintains serious ambitions over Taiwan and that conflict over the island would be 'deeply unfortunate' for all involved.
Xi Jinping is expected to visit Russia in the spring, the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.
+ A closer relationship between Moscow and Beijing would, according to the statement, build a “multipolar system of international relations” to oppose the “attempts by the US to achieve global dominance.”
No limits.
Putin and Xi: Look to Beijing for the real reason behind the Ukraine invasion: Many observers explain Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s nostalgic desire to reconstitute the boundaries of the Soviet Empire. We believe such an explanation is straightforward, consistent with Russian history — and completely wrong. This “Hot Tub Time Machine” take on Putin’s motivation is as erroneous as it may be comforting to the many Cold War-era policymakers who still populate think tanks in Washington. Marc Ross + Michael Keane
The China-Russia friendship is too big to fail: Nearly a year into Moscow’s war in Ukraine, the limits of the partnership between Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin are clearer. But so are the ties that bind them together. Clara Ferreira Marques
BBC: Russia planning 24 February offensive, Ukrainian defense minister says
Ukraine fears new offensive is underway as Russia masses troops: NYT reports Russia is massing hundreds of thousands of troops and stepping up its bombardment, perhaps signaling the biggest assault since the start of the war. “I think it has started,” Ukraine’s leader says.
Ukraine can’t retake Crimea soon, Pentagon tells lawmakers in classified briefing: Politico reports the assessment from the DoD officials is likely to anger Kyiv, which wants to recapture the peninsula from Russia.
Zelenskyy welcomes the EU to his turf — and makes a case for membership: Politico reports Von der Leyen and her top team arrived in Kyiv on Thursday for a symbolic EU-Ukraine summit.
Just over half of American voters think Ukraine is winning the war against Russia, with nearly two-thirds who want to keep helping them in their fight, according to a new Fox News survey.
One year on: How will the Ukraine war end? Owen Matthews
Europe embarks on subsidy race it can’t win: EU efforts to keep green industries inside the bloc face blowback upon arrival. Politico
Denmark is perceived as the least corrupt country, according to Transparency International's annual Corruption Perception Index.
Today: Rishi Sunak completes 101 days as prime minister.
The art of losing an election Katy Balls
FT: Australia to replace British monarch on banknotes
Mongolia needs to be reconnected to the outside world: COVID and Ukraine war have left nation even more dependent on China and Russia. Marissa J. Smith
Peru's President unveils new 2023 election bill proposal: AFP reports Peruvian President Dina Boluarte has put forward a new bill to bring elections forward to 2023 in a bid to calm protests around the country as a fractured Congress has repeatedly failed to come to an agreement after weeks of political infighting.
Bloomberg: Lula says Brazil needs more tools to fight inflation
+ A more stable currency would help mitigate inflation, he says.
+ Lula defends supply regulation measures in a message to congress.
WP: Canadian Parliament votes unanimously to accept 10,000 Uyghur refugees
The cold calculus behind the shrinking GOP presidential field: There’s Trump, DeSantis, and a few other would-be hopefuls in case they falter. But an entire generation of Republican stars seem determined to sit this one out. Politico
+ Citing a much-read Peggy Noonan column from December: “The only way to get rid of Donald Trump is to beat him.”
Americans glum about the state of the union: Gallup reports Americans’ assessment of the state of the nation remains in the pandemic-era slump seen since 2021, marked by subdued satisfaction with 30 different aspects of the country. These include the public’s reaction to several aspects of US society generally, as well as to numerous specific issues facing the country.
SOTU GOP response: Arkansas Republican Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders will deliver the GOP response immediately following President Biden's State of the Union address on Tuesday night, February 7th, announced today by House Speaker McCarthy and Senate Minority Leader McConnell.
WP: Trump declines to say if he’ll support eventual 2024 GOP presidential nominee
Jones Day, the giant law firm that has long advised Donald Trump, reportedly won’t work on his 2024 run for the presidency.
What Ron Klain learned in the White House: Joe Biden’s exiting chief of staff is a case study in the slow accumulation of expertise. Evan Osnos
+ On average, White House chiefs of staff last eighteen months, and Klain, who is fond of arcane statistics, made a point of staying two years—becoming the longest-serving first chief of staff to a Democratic President.
+ At sixty-one, Klain has a thick brush of dark hair, the physique of a tenured professor, and a sense of humor about Washington’s absurdities.
+ In the White House, Klain helped boil the Administration’s essential agenda down to several issues—covid, the economy, the climate, and America’s standing in the world—looking for ways that legislation and national-security policy could work in tandem.
+ He told me the worst day of his tenure was August 26, 2021, during the withdrawal from Afghanistan, when thirteen U.S. troops and more than a hundred Afghans died in a bombing outside Kabul Airport.
+ “I think we’re at a time where publics are just very hard on leaders. Joe Biden’s approval rating is forty-three, or whatever it is. It’s the highest approval rating of any leader in the G7 other than the new Prime Minister of Italy.”
+ This is the first Administration that Klain has worked in that did not have a member of the Cabinet leave in the first two years.
+ During the next two years, the Administration’s focus will shift to implementing the bills that have been signed into law; with Republicans now in control of the House, and Biden seemingly intent on running for reëlection, the prospects for passing new legislation are narrowing sharply.
+ The larger uncertainty looming over Biden’s next two years concerns his age.
+ He would be eighty-two at his second Inauguration; a poll published last week found that Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents are evenly split on whether he should run again.
+ “There’s every reason to believe that Donald Trump will be the nominee of the Republican Party in 2024,” and, he added, “There’s only one person who’s ever beaten Donald Trump, and his name is Joe Biden."
+ "And the people who have doubts about his candidacy better have a damn good answer for who is going to beat Donald Trump other than Joe Biden.”
Senate Election 2024: All four border states that touch Mexico – Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas – have Senate races next year.
One economic model is dying, the next has not yet emerged, and the transition will be costly: The happy globalization of the 1990s is well and truly over, and the economic elite is haunted by doubt. Marie Charrel
+ "It is a fact: the globalization of the 1990s – which was far from being a win-win situation – is over."
+ "Multinationals can no longer fragment their value chains to the extreme to manufacture their products in the cheapest country, with little regard for social and environmental production conditions."
+ "Value chains are being "re-regionalized.""
+ "Finally, task automation and artificial intelligence may not destroy millions of jobs, as techno-pessimists fear, but they will allow our aging societies, whose active population is rapidly disappearing, to build a new, less toxic relationship with work."
Musk blows off Dems in first Capitol tour as Twitter CEO: Politico reports Elon Musk's whirlwind Washington trip left off Democrats from his calling card, but the minority party still wants to hear from him.
It ‘could be decades’ before ChatGPT knocks out prize-winning thinking: The rapid adoption of the AI chatbot has experts concerned that the internet will drown under a torrent of untrustworthy and low-quality content. FR
Once the ‘intellectual blood banks’ of the rich and powerful, can speechwriters be replaced with ChatGPT? David Murray
+ "The extent to which ChatGPT will be used in corporate communication has less to do with the sophistication of the technology and more to do with the true motivations of corporate leaders–and their real attitudes toward human communication."
+ "There are two kinds of leaders in the world: Those who see communication as a potential strategic differentiator, and those who see it as obligatory window-dressing."
+ "You want to work with the first kind of leader."
+ "Speechwriter or not: Any good communicator understands that good writing demands good thinking."
+ "For a real communicator, having a machine write a first draft is not a shortcut, it’s a short circuit."
+ "A CEO who believes that an important part of the job is to communicate genuine ideas and feelings to other human beings will intuitively understand the essential involvement of a human soul in that process."
+ "A leader who understands communication knows that audiences will sense the absence of a living person from the process and turn away in vague disappointment."
+ "But really: How much of the volume of corporate communication is a sincere attempt to communicate strategies, build culture and create a human connection between an organization’s leaders and its stakeholders?"
WSJ: Fanatics hires Google executive to lead push into live-streamed shopping
More details emerge for $1.5B District Detroit buildout and incentives: A fuller picture is emerging of the proposed $1.5 billion buildout of District Detroit. Developers are planning 10 new buildings or rehabs and are requesting about $800 million in development incentives. The joint project by the Ilitch organization's Olympia Development and megadeveloper Stephen Ross' Related Companies is moving toward a possible Detroit City Council vote in March. DFP
A goal isn’t a mission: A heated argument recorded in the White House in 1962 offers a cautionary lesson in mission-setting for leaders today. Theodore Kinni
+ There are missions, and then there are missions.
One type of mission is an achievable task with a fixed goal that is often tactical and short-term in nature.
The other mission is a high-level aspiration that provides direction and motivation to an organization over a long period of time.
+ Don’t mistake a goal—no matter how big, hairy, and audacious—for a compelling organizational mission.
+"NASA during the second half of the 1960s became what James Webb had feared, a one-program agency"
+ "With the White House rejection of ambitious post-Apollo space goals, NASA entered a four-decade identity crisis from which it has yet to emerge."
+ You can achieve a goal and put it behind you, but a mission is always up ahead and just beyond your reach.
Returning to office—but feeling unmotivated: New data shows a growing number of “actively disengaged” employees at the office. How firms can respond. Korn Ferry
+ More than 50% of employees in major cities are now working in person, according to building-security company Kastle Systems. But productivity remains an issue that worries leaders, especially in a tough economy.
+ Companies facing these levels of disengagement need to recreate purpose at work, which experts say begins with carefully incorporating two to three group work experiences into each in-office day.
The hidden link between workaholism and mental health: Long hours on the job can temporarily ease the symptoms of depression and anxiety. But you’re better off leaving the office and facing your feelings head-on. Arthur C. Brooks
Scent-a Fe: New Mexico could be first state with official aroma: The familiar smell of roasted chiles is ‘unique to our state,’ says lawmaker pushing to codify fragrance. Guardian
This is a smelly story.
New Mexico is a vibe.
+ ‘Chile is in the hearts and on the plates of all New Mexicans,’ says the executive director of the New Mexico Chile Association.
AFP: Poland expects 40 nations to oppose Russian athletes at Olympics
US supports blocking Russia and Belarus from 2024 Olympics as war rages in Ukraine: Politico reports should the IOC allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete, it should be “absolutely clear” that they are not representing their respective countries, the White House said.
Marty Walsh, the labor secretary, has reportedly been approached to run the NHL players’ union.
Enjoy the ride + plan accordingly.
-Marc
Marc A. Ross | Chief Communications Strategist @ Caracal
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