January 15, 2021

empowering you with insights and information from the edge of today’s headlines

Some news you might have missed

Politics over Coffee: China’s Xi Jinping has sent a letter to former CEO Howard Schultz of Starbucks asking to help repair US-China relations. Xi wrote to Schultz “to encourage him and Starbucks to continue to play an active role in promoting Chinese-U.S. economic and trade cooperation and the development of bilateral relations.” While Starbucks opened its first branch in China in 1999, the company worked to make China its biggest market outside of the US (Starbucks says it has more than 4,700 stores and 58,000 employees in almost 190 Chinese cities).

While China is using caffeine diplomacy, the Trump administration continues to send mixed signals about investing in Chinese companies. The Defense Department is apparently not going to add Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu to its list of banned companies (those with attachments to the Chinese military), although about 100 companies will be on the final list. Secretary Mnuchin has said that he believed including such major companies would destabilize markets and create economic fallout (the three companies combined have about $1.4T in market capitalization combined). Speaking of economic fallout, the Trump administration’s trade war with China led to the loss of 245,000 American jobs, a trade group of U.S. companies doing business in China has said.

Politics over Vaccines: Mexico will invoke labor provisions in the new North American trade pact in a bid to ensure that illegal migrants in the United States receive coronavirus vaccines. Mexico responded with concern last week after the governor of Nebraska said undocumented migrants would not get vaccinated due to immigration status. Apparently, the USMCA includes health protections for migrants regardless of their immigration status (we suspect Stephen Miller is wishing he had read those documents right about now).

Politics over Farms: Farmers in India have been protesting reforms to agricultural bills that were passed by parliament in September. Farmer unions have demanded that the laws be repealed and will not accept anything short of it. The farmers fear that under the new laws, smaller private traders will be replaced by larger corporations, significantly diminishing their ability to negotiate prices on equal terms. After two months of protests, farmer unions organized a movement (translated as “let’s go to Delhi”), in which thousands of protesters marched to the capital. In late November, a nationwide strike involved approximately 250M. The government has not been shy about using force to push back the protesters. While negotiations between the government and the farmer unions continue (9 rounds so far), the Supreme Court suspended implementation of three farm laws and asked a commission to look into the matter.

The Politics of the Mob: Italy’s largest mafia trial in three decades began this week, with 900 witnesses testifying against more than 350 people, including politicians and officials charged with being members of the powerful ’Ndrangheta. A high-security 1,000-capacity courtroom with cages to hold the defendants has been built by Italian authorities in the Calabrian city of Lamezia Terme, while many defendants will beam into court via video due to COVID. The trial will surely shed some light on organized crime: in 2013, the ’Ndrangheta was estimated to be more financially powerful than Deutsche Bank and McDonald’s combined (with annual revenue of £44B). “’Ndrangheta clans are characterized by deep blood relations, a characteristic that, until recently, has made this organization virtually impenetrable. Today, at last, many of these brothers, nephews and even children have decided to appear as witnesses against their own relatives.” We can’t wait for the Netflix doc.

The Politics of Red Tape: The cost of transporting goods across the English channel has risen substantially with the imposition of Brexit. Just 6% of firms told the Bank of England they were fully prepared for what was to come, and the headaches are just starting less than two weeks into the new system. Brexit may cost British exporters £25B this year as a result of weak demand and more red tape, shaving 1.1% off gross domestic product, according to a report by the trade insurance company Euler Hermes Group SAS. One driver (who had packed his own lunch of a ham sandwich wrapped in foil) was stopped at the border, and had his lunch confiscated — "since Brexit, you are no longer allowed to take food to Europe, like meats, fruits, vegetables, fishes.” (He asked to keep the bread, but no luck).

The Politics of Merkel: On Saturday, the 1001 voting members of Germany’s Christian Democratic Union will hold an online conference to elect a new leader. Angela Merkel will not exit her post as leader (after 15 years) until September, but the move to find a replacement will be watched closely by world leaders. This comes not only with the pandemic and economic crises, but the collapse of the Italian government and an election for Macron in France. (And we thought we had the monopoly on political sh*t shows here in the US.)

The Politics of Water: Yesterday, six years after Flint switched its water supply to the Flint River, a line of Michigan state officials, most prominently Rick Snyder, the former governor, were charged with crimes connected to the crisis. The change in the city’s water source erupted in lead poisoning and an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease (killing at least nine). This is not the first time that prosecutors have filed charges in the water crisis, but in 2019 after seven had taken plea deals, prosecutors moved to drop all remaining charges. If Mr. Snyder is convicted, the charges are punishable by imprisonment of up to one year or a maximum fine of $1,000. (We’d prefer he go on a diet of the skunky water, but you know, laws.)

The Politics of Climate Change: A Paris court will begin hearing a complaint brought by NGOs backed by two million citizens accusing the French state of failing to act to halt climate change. The NGOs (including Greenpeace France and Oxfam France) want the court to hold the state responsible for ecological damage and say victory would mark a symbolic step in the fight to persuade governments to do more. Experts say the government is far from reaching its targets set in the Paris Climate Accords. (France has committed to reducing its emissions by 40 percent by 2030 compared with 1990.)

The Politics of Potatoes: We weren’t sure if this was real, but Taco Bell’s CEO made an announcement about bringing back the potato to its menu. The announcement was made in the form of an actual potato. Taco Bell had removed potatoes and other menu items during the pandemic. We’re hoping more CEO’s take this light-hearted approach when it comes to announcements — who doesn’t want to see a press release in the form of a potato.

If eating drive through potatoes isn’t enough for you, you can now stay in a 6-ton Idaho potato, courtesy of Airbnb. The Big Idaho Potato Hotel has one bedroom, one bathroom but sits on 400 acres of farmland (It will cost a minimum of $165 per night to stay).

Zero Gravity Wine: Twelve bottles of Bordeaux wine are making their way back to Earth following a year aboard the International Space Station. The wine (and several grape vines) were part of an experiment to see how plants might grow in space, and possibly how they might deal with a more stressed Earth (aka climate change). The wine will be taste tested at a private event next month.

Invasion of the Hippos: In the 1980s, Pablo Escobar smuggled four hippos onto his private country estate in Colombia. Now the invasive hippo population is forecast to swell to over 1500 by 2040. When the Colombian officials were charged with dismantling the drug lord’s estate in 1993, they feared the hippos and allowed them to roam free (most of his other exotic animals were sent to zoos). It became illegal to kill hippos in Colombia (following a hunter’s photo of a captured animal), so scientists are now working on how to castrate the animals or where to relocate them. Unfortunately, the animals are having a detrimental impact on the Colombian ecosystem.

Invasion of the Sea Shanty: One of the addictive features of TikTok is the ability to duet some else’s post. Well, a 26-year old Scottish postman sang an ancient sea shanty which then went viral with the additions of multiple duets (adding in bass, music, and even Kermit the Frog). We warn you — you won’t be able to listen just once, and it will surely make you plan your next vacation to Scotland immediately.

One other TikTok trend that took off, was the “Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical” which started as viral duet. In October, creators built their own version of the Pixar film using 60-second increments of songs, dances, makeup looks, set designs, puppets and Playbill programs inspired by the 2007 movie. The musical was then produced as a fundraiser for the Actors Fund, raising $1.9M.

— Lauren Eve Cantor

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