Karl Friedhoff

Have you seen this? Points to ROK government for understanding the assignment.

I went back and looked at the long thread I did on old Twitter when Takaichi ran in 2021 that looked at her career up until 2012/2013. Posting the screenshots here.

Lee vows aggressive R&D push for defense exports, military self-reliance President Lee Jae Myung said Monday his administration will push for research and development through increased government spending to nurture Korea's defense a

"It is hard for me to accept that there are still some who believe South Korea cannot secure self-reliant national defense and must rely on others for its defense," Lee said.

South Korea mulls awarding highest order to Trump during APEC visit South Korea is considering awarding US President Donald Trump its highest national honor in recognition of his role in promoting peace and security on the Korea

South Korea pulling out all the stops here as negotiations on $350bn investment--and other issues--drag on.

A Gathering Storm in Tokyo Shadows Seoul’s APEC Moment - Korea Economic Institute of America South Korea faces the prospect of a new Japanese government less inclined to confront historical issues.

"“When victors judge the vanquished, it creates an enduring misery of defeat and hardship for future generations." --PM Takaichi

Chicago Mayor Issues Defiant Call For A General Strike It was an audacious proposal, given that the U.S. has never held a true, nationwide general strike.

Whoa. Chicago mayor calls for a general strike; now we're talking

www.huffpost.com/entry/chicag...

Saltend: Major UK rare earths refinery scrapped in favour of US The project would have given the UK a strategic foothold in the rare earths industry.

IMO, this takes the US in the wrong direction long-term in trying to stand up secure supply chains. These facilities need to be distributed across allies and partners not concentrated in the US. But US largesse is going to distort the market.

Next season...
7pm - Chicago Med
8pm - Chicago Fire
9pm - Chicago PD
10pm - Chicago Pope

Really interesting results for support for legalizing same-sex marriage in Korea. This kind of polling is done rarely.

www.gallup.co.kr/gallupdb/rep... ◎ 전반적 직무 평가 수치는 직전 조사(9월 23~25일)와 별반 다르지 않으나, 부정 평가 이유는 적잖이 바뀌었다. 추석 전에는 조희대 대법원장 사퇴 압박과 진실 공방, 내란 재판부 변경 등 여당 주도 사안 언급이, 이번에는 외교, 중국, 부동산 관련 지적이 늘었다.

And just as importantly, keep him out of the opening at Penn State.

Bessent Calls China Trade Negotiator An ‘Unhinged’ Wolf Warrior US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent lashed out at a top Chinese trade official, saying he turned up in Washington recently uninvited and behaved in an “unhinged” fashion typical of Beijing’s so-called...

US Treasury Secretary Bessent lashes out at a top Chinese trade official Li Chenggang, saying he turned up in Washington recently uninvited and behaved in an ‘unhinged’ fashion typical of Beijing’s so-called wolf warrior diplomats – Bloomberg

Let 1,000 inflatable frog protesters bloom.

Thermostatic public opinion, reacting against the governing regime, like old faithful.
globalaffairs.org/research/pub...

rare earths are an exercise in American inability to govern. the problem of Chinese dominance in the sector has been known for over a decade. there was a broad bipartisan consensus that it was a problem in DC, at least among anyone who knew even a little about it, and constant discussion of ...

Under a different admin., this report would have looked much different. It would have been "partner with allies here, coordinate with allies there," but with the current US foreign policy overall, I am skeptical of US appetite for that and allied/partner willingness. US cash is driving.

5a. In short-term, labor force policy should include establishing special visas to recruit foreign talent. That won't happen under this admin, of course.

5. Labor force! Mining workforce is in steep decline and the industry has a serious image problem--see radioactive runoff in earlier skeet. More Congressional funding to expand mining program, recruit new students, and reshape perceptions of the industry.

4. Undermining clean energy/EV markets is really dumb policy. It is putting US even further behind cutting-edge technologies that will drive future growth. US should spearhead international research consortium that brings together upstream to end-use manufacturers to develop/reduce new materials.

3. Free market already solved this problem and we're now trying to bifurcate that. It's going to require government support, offtake agreements, and setting floor prices. Not only on producer side, but on end-good manufacturing side. That's the price of entry if this is the policy direction.

2. Mining is important, yes. But midstream processing is more important to build a secure supply chain. Again, that is highly expensive, so how government support gets directed needs to be highly focused.

Anyway, main thrust of the report is) 1. we should be narrowing the critical minerals list, not expanding it. These lists are going to guide government largesse and every company will have its hand out. We should restrict that to only the most important areas of critical minerals/rare earths.

I haven't seen specific reporting on the wastewater issue, but I'd guess that it is at least partially related to radioactive runoff. To be clear, the levels are low and are naturally occurring in the feedstock. But no community wants to hear the word "radioactive runoff."

DOD is in for at least $258 million on the Seadrift refinery. In April Lynas was in talks with DOD about increased funding due to wastewater. By October, Lynas was raising doubts about the feasibility of the project.

So far the US has thrown out numbers like $1 billion here, $1 billion there, but that is small ball. The rare earth refinery being built in Seadrift, TX by Lynas (Australian) is already at something like $500 million. And it is facing increased costs and delays due to the handling of wastewater.

Trump is focused on getting more minerals out of the ground, Great. But raw minerals still have to be processed. And virtually no processing of any kind takes place in the US. Most likely has to go to China, making the US more dependent, not less, on China.

Critical Minerals, Rare Earth Elements, and the Challenges Ahead for the United States Washington is already behind in the race to secure critical minerals and rare earth elements. This report presents a path forward.

With new export controls from China on rare earths, feels like a good time to push out my new report from the Chicago Council. The US is already years behind, the Trump admin. is focused on the wrong "stream", and there is no short- or medium-term solution.

"Brutalism is recognizable through the transfer of battlefield techniques to the civilian sphere...to blunt feeling of revulsion at killing, to break the prohibition on murder....naturalizing social war."

Currently reading Achille Mbembe's Brutalism, and I'm not sure anything else comes close to capturing our current moment. Highly recommend.

Rapid Response Live Stream: Israel-Hamas Phase One Deal Daniel Byman, Sanam Vakil, and Leslie Vinjamuri discuss the Israel and Hamas ceasefire deal and a potential end to the conflict in Gaza.

Coming up in about an hour.