China’s New Navy | Foreign Aid Funds | Phony Philanthropy

“I’ve always felt that a person’s intelligence is directly reflected by the number of conflicting points of view he can entertain simultaneously on the same topic.” – Abigail Adams

China’s New Navy: The United States had been essentially unchallenged in open seas since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. But last year the Chinese navy became the largest in the world, with more warships and submarines in active service than the US. China’s leaders began focusing on strengthening the country’s naval capabilities after Taiwan held its first democratic presidential election in 1996. Naval expansion began in earnest in 2000, but accelerated rapidly once President Xi Jinping took office in 2013. China has launched its first aircraft carrier and is field testing its second. As America’s new commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, Admiral Philip Davidson, said, “China is now capable of controlling the South China Sea in all scenarios short of war with the US.”

Beijing seems most concerned about protecting the waters around Taiwan and in the South China Sea. To do that, it does not need a military that can defeat the US outright, only one that can make intervention in the region too costly for Washington to consider. The US is still superior in firepower and experience, but China has made significant gains in asymmetrical weaponry to thwart America’s advantage. Xi now has an arsenal of high-speed ballistic missiles designed to strike moving ships. The latest versions of these missiles are popularly called “carrier killers”, and they can threaten the most powerful vessels in the US fleet long before those ships get close to China. The Chinese refer to their plan to use radar, satellites and ballistic missiles as “counter-intervention”; US military planners call the strategy A2/AD, for “anti-access/area denial.”

If You Want To Retire You Gotta Putin The Work: Vladimir Putin has a plan to save the Russian government money on retirees’ pensions: Raise the retirement age as close as you can to life expectancy. Back in the good old days retirement age for men was 60. Soon it’ll increase to 65. (Life expectancy is 66.) Women have it way better. Their retirement age will rise from 55 to 60, and in theory they’ll have until 77 to enjoy it. Plus, if they have at least three children they can retire earlier. Something to think about, ladies. (BBC)

Vacation, All We Never Wanted: Affluence and technology are ruining the international travel pastime, or so say advocates of curbing tourism. These spoilsports think too many visitors are altering the character of historic cities. They blame internet-enabled travel conveniences like Airbnb and Uber for degrading the tourist experience. Well, if you consider having to constantly queue up behind backpacks of hundreds of other tourists on phones, they’ve got a point. (NYT)

Two Strikes: A second complaint accusing Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte of murder has been filed with the International Criminal Court at the Hague. Duterte, 73, waged a virulent and widespread “war on drugs” that has left thousands dead at the hands of police officers and unknown gunmen since 2016. Last March Duterte withdrew the Philippines from the treaty that established the ICC, and he is aggressively taking control of his country’s judicial system. (NYT)

Foreign Aid Funds: The director of the Office of Management and Budget, Mick Mulvaney, wanted to take back more than $3 billion in unspent foreign aid that Congress and the president had already approved. After a giant pushback by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and members of Congress, the plan was scrapped.Twice before the administration had tried to make deep cuts to foreign aid, but Congress, State and Defense Departments consider it to be an effective tool of diplomacy and American values. (WaPo)

Imagine this: You have a big interview coming up and you took your suit for a nice dry clean. Tragedy strikes! They lost your suit! What do you do? You can’t wear your old suits, you’ve grown out of them, and you’re definitely not dropping another grand for some generic suit that everyone will recognize. That’s where Indochino comes in. Affordable, perfectly tailored, and customized to your needs and wants. Need proof? Simply use the code PNUT at checkout online or in person at any showroom to get your premium, custom-made suit for just $359. Too good to be true? Suit yourself, we know we’ll be.

US Primaries: This year’s midterm elections just got more exciting after Tuesday’s primaries in Florida and Arizona. In the Sunshine State, the governor’s race shaped up between proxies for Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. Democrat Andrew Gillum is Tallahassee’s mayor, a young progressive endorsed by Sanders. Republican Rep. Ron DeSantis is given an enthusiastic thumbs up by the president, and models everything Trump. Across the map, the Grand Canyon may be beautiful, but the state is in for an ugly battle between two fired-up women. Republican Rep. Martha McSally is a former fighter pilot who has come out swinging against her Democratic challenger, Rep. Kyrsten Sinema. Sinema leads in the polls, but for McSally, negativity is what moves numbers, and she’s already going low. (NPR)

You’re Resigned: White House counsel Don McGahn’s somewhat secret secret was spilled a bit early by President Trump, when he announced ahead of time on Wednesday that McGahn will resign his position in the fall. Despite McGahn’s speedy spearheading of the installation in top posts of Trump’s conservative judge picks, and despite McGahn’s leading role in Trumpian assaults on federal regulations of everything from carbon emissions to banking practices, it is thought that the president couldn’t get over McGahn voluntarily cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigative team on at least three separate occasions. (Guardian)

Buyer’s Remorse: President Trump is increasingly unwelcome at basic rituals and ceremonies that are customarily part of presidential duties, and that’s just fine with him. He chooses to attend rallies where he will be acclaimed, and eschews events where he will not be the center of attention. (WaPo)

Quantum of No Luck: You don’t mess with James Bond, or at least people similar enough to James Bond that American newsletter writers automatically equate them because they have similar jobs…Devin Nunes learned that the hard way. Nunes recently traveled to the UK with the hope that he would be able to speak to an official regarding ex-MI6 agent, Christopher Steele (who authored a dossier which connected Trump’s administration to the Kremlin). Unfortunately for Nunes, not a single member of the three top British intelligence agencies desired to meet with him. Thus making him the most anti-climatic Bond villain ever. (BBC)

– “Survival Of The Sluggish: Scientists Find An Upside To A Low Metabolism” Spoiler Alert: Don’t get excited… it doesn’t help humans all that much, sorry. (NPR)

– “Generous Giving Or Phony Philanthropy? A Critique Of Well-Meaning ‘Winners’” Winner winner (a publicity stunt that looks like a charitable donation of a) chicken dinner. (NPR)

– “Just how short could we make the working week?: Experiments worldwide have tried to prove the benefit of working fewer hours, in the name of improving work-life balance. Can we get it down to a day a week?” (BBC)

– “The lost civilization of California wine: A California cult unwittingly created one of the country’s great wineries — and then lost it. The haunting story of a vineyard’s rise, collapse and refusal to die.” (San Francisco Chronicle)

– “Take a Look at These Unusual Strategies for Fighting Dementia: ‘The more stress is reduced, the better…If you can lower stress and discomfort, it has a direct physiological effect.’” (NYT)

– “Extreme Athleticism Is the New Midlife Crisis” Who needs a fancy sports car when you can BE a fancy sports car? (Medium)

“Keep a light, hopeful heart. But ­expect the worst.” – Joyce Carol Oates

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