Asian Leaders Plan for an Asian Decade | RIP Stan Lee | Tell Your Boss

“[Being a ‘geek’] has become a badge of honor. It’s geeks who really make or break a TV show or movie or video game. They’re the ones who are passionate about these things and who collect [the paraphernalia] and talk about them. A geek is really somebody interested in communication and entertainment and [finding] the best way to avail himself or herself to it.”

“I wanted them to be diverse. The whole underlying principle of the X-Men was to try to be an anti-bigotry story to show there’s good in every person.” – Stan Lee, Comicbook.com.

– Stan Lee

Asian Leaders Plan for an Asian Decade: It’s time for the annual East Asia Summit, when members of the 10-nation bloc host world leaders for meetings geared at strengthening ties with global powers. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meetings start Tuesday in Singapore. Thereafter most participants will travel to the ­Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings, hosted by Papua New Guinea, the poorest of a 21-country bloc of Pacific economies. Russian President Vladimir Putin will make his first visit to Singapore, meeting with leaders who increasingly look to Moscow for arms purchases and diplomatic protection. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will be present to expand the China-Singapore free-trade agreement, and “upgrade its relationship” with other Southeast Asian countries. Chinese President Xi Jinping will be in Port Moresby for the APEC summit, underscoring Beijing’s strategic play in the South Pacific. Other summit attendees include Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan and President Moon Jae-in of South Korea.

President Trump, however, will be conspicuously absent. Instead Vice President Pence and national security adviser John Bolton will lead the US delegation. Many experts view the president’s absence as a lost opportunity, a miscalculation at a time when Washington and Beijing are locked in a battle for influence over a region that is China’s backyard. One Southeast Asia expert, Brian Harding, said Trump’s decision not to show up is a “major problem with really bad optics. Every country in Southeast Asia is trying to forge a close relationship with the U.S. — they don’t want to live in a region that’s dominated by China,” Harding said. “It doesn’t send a good signal [of U.S. commitment] that the president doesn’t want to attend the one summit he’s supposed to in Southeast Asia.” Last weekend Trump was criticized for failing to show up for a scheduled tour of an American military cemetery in France honoring WWI veterans; many perceived it as evidence of how Trump has isolated the US from traditional European allies. But Harding also noted: “Trump’s stock in Southeast Asia is not as low as some might imagine.”

Additional read: “A Japanese island quietly disappeared — and no one noticed until now: The Japanese Coast Guard is apparently planning to search for the islet, called Esanbehanakitakojima, about one-third of a mile away from Sarufutsu, a village on Hokkaido island.” (WaPo)

Afghanistan Loses Some Good Fighters: A small team of dedicated New York Times’ journalists lived to report on Sunday’s genocidal assault by Taliban insurgents on Jaghori, Afghanistan’s safest rural district, and the deaths of over 30 of Afghanistan’s finest troops, the US trained Special Forces commandos. (NYT)

Caught Red-Handed (The Red Is Strawberries): A 50-year-old former strawberry farm supervisor in Queensland, Australia, has been arrested and charged with aggravated contamination of goods. My Ut Trinh is accused of spiking strawberries with needles, fueling a nationwide scare that began in September and has crippled Australia’s strawberry industry. If convicted, Trinh faces up to 10 years in prison. (NYT)

Swishish: Cash is disappearing in Sweden. The retail payment market is increasingly relying on technology, specifically: the instant payment app Swish. By connecting a bank account in any bank with a mobile phone number, customers can pay their bill at a restaurant, buy goods at street markets, collect money for a birthday gift at the office, send pocket money to children, etc. etc. simply by “swishing.” In fact, to “swish” money has even become a verb in the Swedish language. In the future, if cash stops being an accepted form of payment, individuals would have to rely on the private sector alone to get access to money and payment methods. Or, Sweden’s central bank could start issuing digital currency. It’s a brave new world. (Weforum)

– “British soldier recruited for far-right group while in army: Cpl Mikko Vehvilainen was jailed for eight years in March for being a member of National Action” (Guardian)

– “Neo-Nazi couple found guilty of membership of banned terror group:Adam Thomas and Claudia Patatas were members of National Action, banned in 2016” (Guardian)

– “Trudeau says Canada has heard Turkish tape of Khashoggi murder: PM is first western leader to confirm Turkey has shared audio with other countries” (Guardian)

– “Senior Saudi diplomat in Istanbul when Khashoggi was killed drops out of sight” (WaPo)

– “‘Tell Your Boss’: Recording Is Seen to Link Saudi Crown Prince More Strongly to Khashoggi Killing.” (NYT)

– “Alibaba Singles Day sales frenzy surpasses records: Internet giant Alibaba has set new sales records on Sunday for its biggest shopping day, the annual Singles Day.” (BBC)

– “Russia denies disrupting GPS signals during Nato Arctic exercises” (Guardian)

Violence Since the Old Testament Continues in the Middle East: An apparent Israeli undercover intelligence-gathering operation inside Gaza went way wrong on Sunday. Palestinian sources said the Israeli unit’s civilian vehicle was spotted about 2 miles inside the Gaza strip that borders Israel. Militants from Hamas, which controls Gaza, stopped the car; the Israeli unit opened fire, killing a local commander. A gun battle ensued; Israeli tanks and aircraft in the area opened fire. In all, seven Palestinians and an Israeli soldier were killed.

Throughout Monday some 300 rockets and mortars were launched towards Israel; dozens were intercepted, others landed in open fields. Another Israeli soldier was seriously injured when he was hit by flying debris from a mortar attack. In retaliation Israeli military aircraft and tanks bombed more than 20 Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets in Gaza, including militant compounds, observation posts, rocket-launching squads, and the building that houses the Hamas-run television station. Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry reported that the Israeli strikes had killed three men and wounded nine other people. Hamas has controlled Gaza since winning Palestinian elections in 2006; it does not recognize Israel’s right to exist and advocates the use of violence against it. Israel and Egypt have blockaded Gaza since 2006 to stop militant attacks; to date Israel and Hamas have gone to war three times. Incoming rocket fire from Gaza, followed by retaliatory air strikes from Israel, are now a regular occurrence.

Attorney General Scams Veterans: President Trump’s new Acting Attorney General, Matthew Whitaker, was a paid advisory board member for a company charged by the justice department of defrauding the public,including US military veterans, many of whom were scammed out of their life savings. Florida-based World Patent Marketing (WPM) was accused of tricking aspiring inventors out of millions of dollars. Whitaker publicly vouched for WPM, claiming in December 2014 it went “beyond making statements about doing business ‘ethically’ and translate[d] those words into action.” Earlier this year WPM was ordered to pay authorities $26 million. (Guardian)

– “How the GOP Gave Up on Porn: Once, the fight against pornography was the beating heart of the American culture war. Now porn is a ballooning industry — and maybe a harmful one —with no real opponents. What happened?” (Politico)

– “New Physical Activity Guidelines Urge Americans: Move More, Sit Less” (NPR)

– “The Demise of the Moderate Republican: Ryan Costello, a centrist wonk, ran for Congress to solve problems—but his colleagues fell in line with Trump’s parade of resentment.” (New Yorker)

– “Beto O’Rourke’s biggest blind spot cost him Texas. Democrats, take note: Progressive ideas may be in vogue, but the lesson of 2018 is that what the party needs most is a movement of reformers” (Guardian)

– “Stan Lee: Spider-Man, X-Men and Avengers creator dies aged 95” No one in comics ever stays dead. They always come back when we need saving. Rest in peace, Stan. (Guardian)

– “The Voice of the ‘Intellectual Dark Web’: Claire Lehmann’s online magazine, Quillette, prides itself on publishing ‘dangerous’ ideas other outlets won’t touch. How far is it willing to go?” (Politico)

– “Surviving Jonestown: In 1978, I went to Guyana on a fact-finding mission. By the time I returned, more than 900 people died. I was almost one of them.” (Politico)

– “How a Former Canadian Spy Helps Wall Street Mavens Think Smarter:Shane Parrish has become an unlikely guru for Wall Street. His self-improvement strategies appeal to his overachieving audience in elite finance, Silicon Valley and professional sports.” We regularly cite his blog and articles from it (Farnam Street) in Loose Nuts. (NYT)

– “The Chemists’ War: One hundred years after the end of World War I, the Army Corps of Engineers is still cleaning up the relics of experiments that helped develop chemical weapons to counter the Germans’ gas attacks.” (NYT)

– “Sourdough Hands: How Bakers And Bread Are A Microbial Match” (NPR)

“Sooner or later, we must learn to judge each other on our own merits. Sooner or later, if man is ever to be worthy of his destiny, we must fill out hearts with tolerance. For then, and only then, will we be truly worthy of the concept that man was created in the image of God–a God who calls us ALL—His children.” – Stan Lee

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