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NYT: Sanctions demonstrate you care even if they don’t work and drive the generals into the arms of China. But Aung San Suu Kyi ruined her reputation and Trump smashed everything so how can Biden succeed? With sanctions and virtue signaling ineffective Washington might have to do something practical in foreign affairs. Washington can no longer manage foreign affairs with smoke and mirrors and may be forced to actually build up American competitiveness and strength instead of distributing spoils.

As I argued in the Belmont Club Biden will be constrained in his ability to satisfy the Woke base by the need to compete with Chinese hard power. Biden can only ruin America so much before demoting himself to number 2 to Xi.

Declaring Democracy Won’t Be Subverted, Biden Demands Russia and Myanmar Reverse Course

The president is about to discover how years of sanctions fatigue — exacerbated in the Trump administration — and a decline in American influence may make it difficult to deliver on his promises.

In an interview he argues we have too many rules, too few kids; are too concerned with supplying the answers and not enough with asking the questions, including the most important of all: why are we here?

He believes the greatest threats and opportunities are those which touch upon conciousness; what the ancients called the soul. And the biggest threat to the soul today may be the United States.

Döpfner: That’s the first time where I would actually contradict you. China doesn’t care about human rights. How could there ever be an equal and level playing field. Do you really see an opportunity for Western democracies to win? What is your scenario, let’s say, concerning the role of AI in the hands of politicians and economies like China, America, the West, the East in 10 years?

Musk: Google and DeepMind, which is one company, are by far the leaders in AI, the ones making the most progress. So, I’m not aware of who would even be a close second, maybe open AI. So, China’s putting a lot of effort into AI. And they may be making progress. But I’ve not seen progress that is close to Google and DeepMind.

He hopes to be buried on Mars.

Elon Musk reveals Tesla’s plan to be at the forefront of a self-driving-car revolution — and why he wants to be buried on Mars

Tesla CEO Elon Musk sat down with Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner for an interview during his visit to Germany.

(Reuters) – Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma has been left off a list of Chinese entrepreneurial leaders published by state media – the snub underscoring how just far he has fallen out of favour with Beijing.

Reuters

John Kerry flew on private jet to accept climate award: ‘Only choice for somebody like me’

Biden global climate czar John Kerry flew by private plane in 2019 to accept an award for his climate work in Iceland, a decision he defended at the time as “the only choice for somebody like me.”

Biden global climate czar John Kerry flew by private plane in 2019 to accept an award for his climate work in Iceland, a decision he defended at the time as “the only choice for somebody like me,” as shown on a video posted Wednesday by FoxNews.com …

touting his climate bona fides and saying his schedule gave him little choice

signed Tim T. Schowalter. Politics is all about paying off political debts.

Letter: Joe Biden put me out of business

Joe Biden just put me out of business by suspending new oil and gas leases and drilling permits. I am a petroleum geologist and generate drilling prospects in the Rocky Mountains on federal lands. I…

This action was done under the guise of helping climate change but will not stop one CO2 molecule from being released, as there is nothing in the executive order to reduce consumption.

How Europe Tripped in Covid-19 Vaccine Race

The continent wanted to teach the world a lesson in solidarity. Now its vaccination plan is falling apart.

While other governments were wooing vaccine makers with subsidies and immunity from liability in case of side effects, the EU focused on pushing prices down and slowing negotiations, which resulted in late orders. It also spread its purchases widely to reduce risk, signing deals with companies that are still months away from approved shots. And it was slow to authorize the vaccines it had purchased.

The uncertainty and unease is global. From Asia to Europe to Russia and even the Middle East there is much doubt in the air.

Gun sales on the rise amid pandemic uncertainty, Biden’s vow for gun reform

Gun sales are on the rise across the U.S.

Experts attribute the demand to fear and uncertainty that was sparked by the coronavirus pandemic, protests over racial injustice from last summer and the 2020 presidential election. …

“There’s every indication that it’s not going to slow down anytime soon,” Oliva said. “I think if you walk into any retailer right now, you’re going to see that gun case and that gun shelf is still pretty sparsely populated. That tells me that there’s still an unmet demand.”

Have Scientists Finally Unraveled the 60-Year Mystery Surrounding Nine Russian Hikers’ Deaths?

New research identifies an unusual avalanche as the culprit behind the 1959 Dyatlov Pass Incident

Today, the so-called Dyatlov Pass Incident—named after the group’s leader, 23-year-old Igor Dyatlov—is one of Russia’s most enduring mysteries, spawning conspiracy theories as varied as a military cover-up, a UFO sighting, an abominable snowman attack, radiation fallout from secret weapons tests and a clash with the indigenous Mansi people. But as Robin George Andrews reports for National Geographic, new research published in the journal Communications Earth and Environment points toward a more “sensible” explanation, drawing on advanced computer modeling to posit that an unusually timed avalanche sealed the hikers’ fate.

He knows a coup when he sees one.

Biden administration debating whether to call military takeover in Myanmar a ‘coup’

The Biden administration is engaged in an internal debate over whether to call the military takeover in Myanmar a coup, a designation that would have ramifications for US assistance to the country’s government, according to a State Department official and an administration official.

“Spill the beans, man,” Musk said to Tenev on Clubhouse. “What happened last week? Why couldn’t people buy the GameStop shares? The people demand answers, and they want to know the truth.”

New mutant UK coronavirus strains could resist vaccines.

Then all will be well with nothing to report. How censorship is blinding us.

New at the Belmont Club

DoJ Investigating Space X for Not Hiring a Foreign National

The Department of Justice filed a request for a court order to enforce an administrative subpoena in an investigation into Space X for discrimination in hiring.

The investigation into this complaint began under the Trump administration, and the request to enforce an administrative subpoena occurred under the Biden administration. It is unclear if this is just another example of how overregulation puts undue burdens on organizations when agencies have conflicting mandates or if CEO Elon Musk’s recent critical statements could have spurred these actions. He has criticized the FAA for delaying a Space X test flight, questioned the response to the GameStop stock drama, and asserted that the complete transition to electric vehicles by 2035 is not feasible.

Never mind what China and Russia say. It’s the American voters who think Biden cheated that’s the problem. The West, masked, locked down, surveilled and cancel crazy is a long way from ‘whiskey, sexy, freedom’.

As Biden Plans Global Democracy Summit, Skeptics Say: Heal Thyself First

The sense of a dysfunctional, if not entirely broken, democratic system in the United States has foreign rivals crowing — and suggesting that it has no business lecturing other nations.

The Burmese military is back. China is their biggest arms supplier. “President Biden’s administration is reviewing whether the United States will officially label the campaign against the Rohingya genocide.” What happens next?

Myanmar’s Leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Is Detained Amid Coup

Communications were suspended and flights disrupted as the military took power from an elected government and declared a one-year state of emergency.

Myanmar was lauded by Western governments, including the Obama administration, as a democratic beacon in a world where authoritarianism was on the rise. But the political transition in the Southeast Asian nation was never quite as smooth or as significant as the political fairy tale made it out to be.

The information theory of biological aging, if right, means it is reversible in principle. The bad news is that Stalin and Mao might still be alive today.

Incumbents almost never lose in Washington. Imagine Nancy Pelosi as Speaker potentially forever.

What if the Old Ones decide to limit entry to the club?

Britain has returned to the world stage as herself and not just as part of the European Union. The old world order has gone. Something new is stirring in its place. This is the fundamental problem of the Restoration.

Britain will apply to join Asia-Pacific free-trade bloc in the wake of Brexit

Britain will apply to join a massive 11-nation free-trade bloc of Asia-Pacific countries, it announced Saturday, weeks after leaving the European single market with its departure from the EU.

It’s ok be a Communist radical just not the other thing.

Democratic lawmakers call for removal of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene over incendiary rhetoric

Lawmakers and activists are calling to remove freshman GOP Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene from the House Education Committee and from Congress.