1 SpaceX Starship reaches orbit
2 China not likely to permit TikTok divestment
3 FL braces for flood of Haitian migrants
4 US launched covert influence operation in China in 2019
5 China, Russia lead US in hypersonics
3/15/44 BC The Ides of March
see ad astra on x @greg_loving
1 SpaceX Starship reaches orbit
The third try turned out to be closer to the charm for Elon Musk and SpaceX, as his company’s mammoth Starship rocket launched on Thursday and traveled about halfway around the Earth before it was lost as it re-entered the atmosphere. The test flight achieved several key milestones in the development of the vehicle, which could alter the future of space transportation and help NASA return astronauts to the moon. This particular flight was not, by design, intended to make it all the way around the Earth. At 8:25 a.m. Central time, Starship — the biggest and most powerful rocket ever to fly — lifted off from the coast of South Texas. The ascent was smooth, with the upper Starship stage reaching orbital velocities. About 45 minutes after launch, it started re-entering the atmosphere, heading toward a belly-flop splashdown in the Indian Ocean. Live video, conveyed in near real-time via SpaceX’s Starlink satellites, showed red-hot gases heating the underside of the vehicle. Then, 49 minutes after launch, communications with Starship ended, and SpaceX later said the vehicle had not survived the re-entry, presumably disintegrating and falling into the ocean.
NYT
2 China not likely to permit TikTok divestment
A scenario in which the Senate delays movement until they are “too close to the election” might be the best outcome Bytedance can hope for. US National Security Advisor Sullivan today made it clear he supports the direction of the legislation. I do agree with TikTok that a law forcing divestment or ban likely means a ban, as PRC policymakers are not likely to approve a forced divestment. One reason that PRC policy makers may say no to any divestment of TikTok is that TikTok is the first global Internet platform from China. The government for years has talked about the need to increase its share of international discourse power about telling China story well, yet the global efforts to do that have primarily relied on American platforms like YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. TikTok helps break that distribution stranglehold. How would a divestment even work?Would there be a TikTok US and a TikTok rest of the world? Would TikTok US be competing with TikTok rest of the world? Even if PRC policymakers decided to allow a divestment for the US market, why would they approve a transaction that strips TikTok globally from Bytedance control?
Sinocisim
3 FL braces for flood of Haitian migrants
The crisis in Haiti could lead to a migration surge to Florida, forcing officials to respond as the state has taken an increasingly hardline stance on the issue and as Congress faces gridlock over border policy. Florida lawmakers are already preparing for an influx of Haitian migrants and warning that American security could be jeopardized if the U.S. doesn’t do more to help Haiti, though the country has rarely been a top foreign policy priority. Violent gangs have largely overtaken the island nation and people throughout Haiti face dwindling food supplies and homelessness. The chaos has led to the resignation of Haiti’s Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who will formally step down as soon as an interim leader is named. Over the years, the Caribbean country’s turmoil has forced Haitians to take the dangerous, 700-mile path by sea to flee to Florida’s shores, often landing in the Keys. Today, more than 276,000 people who live in Florida were born in Haiti
Politico
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/03/13/florida-haiti-migrants-desantis-00146694
4 US launched covert influence operation in China in 2019
Two years into office, President Donald Trump authorized the Central Intelligence Agency to launch a clandestine campaign on Chinese social media aimed at turning public opinion in China against its government, according to former U.S. officials with direct knowledge of the highly classified operation. Three former officials told Reuters that the CIA created a small team of operatives who used bogus internet identities to spread negative narratives about Xi Jinping’s government while leaking disparaging intelligence to overseas news outlets. The effort, which began in 2019, has not been previously reported.
The CIA team promoted allegations that members of the ruling Communist Party were hiding ill-gotten money overseas and slammed as corrupt and wasteful China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which provides financing for infrastructure projects in the developing world, the sources told Reuters. Although the U.S. officials declined to provide specific details of these operations, they said the disparaging narratives were based in fact despite being secretly released by intelligence operatives under false cover. The efforts within China were intended to foment paranoia among top leaders there, forcing its government to expend resources chasing intrusions into Beijing’s tightly controlled internet, two former officials said. “We wanted them chasing ghosts,” one of these former officials said.
Reuters
5 China, Russia lead US in hypersonics
China leads in developing, testing and deploying hypersonics, besting Russia as the US works to catch up on the new weapons that travel five times the speed of sound, a senior US defense intelligence analyst says. The world’s “leading hypersonic arsenal” has resulted from 20 years of China’s efforts “to dramatically advance its development of conventional and nuclear-armed technologies and capabilities through intense and focused investment, development, testing and deployments,” Jeffery McCormick, senior intelligence analyst for the National Air and Space Intelligence Center, told a House Armed Services subcommittee Tuesday. Russia has used the weapons in Ukraine but lags behind China in total inventory and support systems, McCormick said. Despite its efforts, the US has yet to field a single hypersonic weapon. The Air Force and Army had goals of having them in 2022 and last year. Both services encountered testing difficulties that resulted in the Air Force shifting to a different weapon and the Army reinvigorating its test plan in fiscal 2025 while scaling back its fielding schedules.
Bloomberg
3/15/44 BC The Ides of March
Julius Caesar, dictator of Rome, is stabbed to death in the Roman Senate house by 60 conspirators led by Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus on March 15. The day later became infamous as the Ides of March.Thanks for reading!