We thought ants were our worst enemy* until we stumbled upon a wasp nest while clipping back bushes in anticipation of our house being painted.** It turns out we are allergic and ordinarily we might go into great detail about our symptoms and travails but earlier this week while in Tacoma we had the opportunity to witness two ambulances being donated to Ukraine. When a meeting was cancelled in Tacoma and we had time to spare, a friend and former Port Commissioner said to come join her to see the ambulances being driven onto the terminal where they would drive onto a roro ship, pass through the Panama Canal and land in Bremerhaven, Germany. From there they would be driven to Kyiv and immediately go into use on the frontlines of Russia’s ongoing war crimes against Ukraine.
Also at the port terminal was the Honorary Consul for Ukraine in Washington State, Valeriy Goloborodko. He noted that the morale of Ukrainians is uplifted when these kinds of supplies arrive from America. These are not the first ambulances that volunteer groups in Tacoma have arranged to be delivered to Ukraine. Consul Goloborodko said that when Russians saw the other ambulances, they asked, “where did you get these?” Just as their delivery is practically helpful and morally uplifting it is also good for Russians to know that ordinary Americans (and others around the world) are supporting Ukrainians. Another in attendance at the delivery observed the dark irony that they were being loaded onto the ship even as that morning Russia purposefully bombed a children’s hospital in Kyiv. Unfortunately, these ambulances will be well-used upon arrival. So our petty battles with wasps and ants are forgotten, but Ukraine never will be.
And nor do we forget North Korea’s barbarity, where the wealthy are moving to and autonomous cars in China. It’s this week’s International Need to Know, the heat wave of international information, the cool shower of global data.
*For those following the Great Ant War, we continue to lose but are hopeful new armaments will turn the tide.
**For those remembering the Great Spouse Paint Color Battle, we have compromised on a subdued yellow. Peace reigns throughout the household
Without further ado, here’s what you need to know.
A Republic If You Can Keep It
We noted in January all of the consequential elections taking place around the globe this year. In the last week, both France and the UK elected two very different coalitions. People living in democracies should never take their freedom for granted, especially in this era of rising authoritarianism. Take North Korea, for example, where just distributing K-Pop can garner the death penalty. According to a new report on North Korean Human Rights by South Korea’s Unification Ministry, a 22-year-old North Korean was executed for “listening to 70 South Korean songs, watching three films, and distributing the media.” An article in The Guardian, states, “The ban on K-pop is part of a campaign to shield North Koreans from the ‘malign’ influence of western culture that began under the former leader, Kim Jong-il and intensified under his son Kim Jong-un.” People often forget that such oppression is a sign of weakness not strength. Those pining for authoritarianism in democracies are similarly weak.
Where The Wealthy Are Moving To
When we convened in this space in June we detailed from which countries the wealthy are moving from and promised to let you know in our next missive where they are moving to. We almost always fulfill our promises, and so we again turn to the Wealth Migration Report from Henley and Partners. As you can see in the table below, the UAE is the top destination for millionaires, which, although we have nothing against the UAE and have enjoyed traveling there, makes us question the taste of millionaires. But the UAE has zero income tax and Henley and Partners asserts, “the evolution and development of the UAE’s wealth management ecosystem is unprecedented. In less than 5 years, the UAE has introduced a robust regulatory framework that provides the wealthy with a range of innovative solutions to protect, preserve and enhance their wealth.“ And I suppose the UAE’s strategic location means the wealthy can travel to many desirable places quickly so they can have their wealth cake and eat it too. The U.S is number two on the list. Despite so many Americans saying it is a terrible place, millions of people, including millionaires, still want to move there. Singapore is third, mostly because wealthy Chinese are moving to the city-state. Despite Xi Jinping saying how great China is, many people, including millionaires, want to move out of there.
China Corner: Follow The Autonomous Vehicles
We were early on the self-driving car beat—way too early as it turns out, predicting back around 2007 that autonomous vehicles were 7-10 years away from being commonly seen on our streets and highways. But early does not mean never and now Waymo is operating self-driving taxis in Phoenix and San Francisco with more cities planned. But of course, autonomous cars are a global phenomenon and China, which has taken the lead on electric vehicles likely aims to be the leader in autonomous cars as well. In recent weeks China has announced the opening of cities such as Beijing and Shanghai to autonomous vehicles sans backup drivers. And earlier this year, Tesla, after it partnered with the Chinese Internet search giant Baidu, was given permission to test its autonomous cars on the streets of China. Autonomous driving technology is an interesting intersection of AI, data and other technologies that China and the U.S. are competing in while at the same time it sets up a test of the two countries’ regulatory environments. Where autonomous vehicles succeed first at scale will give us insight on other areas of the competition of competence between China and the U.S.
