October 25 2024

1. Russia Provided Targeting Data for Houthi Assault on Global Shipping
2. U.S.-China Science Race: America’s Edge Under Pressure as China Nears Parity
3. 2024 Senate Races: GOP Edge Could Turn into a Decisive Sweep
4. Trump to go on Joe Rogan Podcast
5. Friday Ukraine Update: UKRAINE SAYS NORTH KOREAN TROOPS ALREADY THERE
October 25 1960: 1st electronic wrist watch placed on sale, NYC

See the new Ad Astra Podcast! Released on Apple and Spotify around 10a CST.

Editors note: We’re still waiting on Israel’s retaliatory strike on Iran. It will come and when it does, we’ll cover it.

1. Russia Provided Targeting Data for Houthi Assault on Global Shipping

Russia provided targeting data for Yemen’s Houthi rebels as they attacked Western ships in the Red Sea with missiles and drones earlier this year, helping the Iranian-backed group assault a major artery for global trade and further destabilizing the region. The Houthis, which began their attacks late last year over the Gaza war, eventually began using Russian satellite data as they expanded their strikes, said a person familiar with the matter and two European defense officials. The data was passed through members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, who were embedded with the Houthis in Yemen, one of the people said. The assistance, which hasn’t been previously reported, shows how far Russian President Vladimir Putin is willing to go to undermine the U.S.-led Western economic and political order. Russia, in this case, supported the Iran-backed Houthis, which the U.S. designates as a terrorist group, as they carried out a series of attacks in one of the world’s most heavily traveled shipping routes.

Article Source: WSJ

2. U.S.-China Science Race: America’s Edge Under Pressure as China Nears Parity

The driving force behind research is money, and the United States has long enjoyed a leading position in science and technology in large part because it outspends all other nations. Combining government and private funding, the United States spent $923 billion in 2022 (the last year for which full numbers are available), or around 30% of global R&D spending. But as China’s economy has soared, so has its R&D spending, to the equivalent of $812 billion (adjusted for purchasing power parity). On that trajectory it will draw level with the United States before 2030 On sheer numbers of personnel, scientific output and patents, the United States has already lost its lead. In 2016, China leaped ahead as the top producer of science and engineering articles. In 2019, it passed the United States in the number of science and engineering PhDs awarded; and in 2021, it became top dog in international patent applications, according to a report by the US National Science Foundation (NSF) published in March2. For years, some researchers who study science metrics have argued that China still lagged behind in terms of the quality of its scientific output, but that is also changing. In 2020, for instance, China overtook the United States in terms of its share of the world’s top 1% cited papers, a proxy measure of high-impact work, according to numbers from the Web of Science database

Article Source: Nature

3. 2024 Senate Races: GOP Edge Could Turn into a Decisive Sweep

It seems likely that Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) will lose his bid for re-election. He survived in 2018 because President Trump was not on the ballot. Trump is on the ballot this time (obviously) and the MAGA base will be out in full force. It’s possible, of course, that Tester will snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. If he does, it will be the reverse upset of the decade. Assuming Tester is defeated, and we do, that brings the count to a 49 Dem—51 GOP U.S. Senate. (The West Virginia Senate race, everyone agrees, is an “automatic” Republican pick-up, as the Democrats’ only hope of holding the seat ended with Sen. Joe Manchin’s retirement). What’s changed in the last month or so is that 4 Senate seats currently held by Democrats are now up for grabs. David McCormick is running even with Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA). Bernie Marino is even with Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) in Ohio. In the Michigan Senate race, Rep. Mike Rodgers (R) is closing in on Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D). And in Wisconsin, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D) is in a very close race with GOP businessman Eric Hovde. In addition, it’s not impossible that the Nevada Senate race will end up being a nail-biter. Sen. Jackie Rosen (D) is favored (the Real Clear Politics polling average shows her ahead outside the margin of error), but it is often the case that when the tide goes in one direction, it makes seemingly “comfortable” leads a lot less comfortable.  All of which raises the prospect of a 1980-like GOP “sweep” of the presidential and the truly competitive U.S. Senate campaigns. This possibility hasn’t really made its way into the mainstream media’s coverage of the campaign. The Senate races are presented as “a battle for control.” From where we sit, GOP control of the Senate seems a foregone conclusion. The question is whether the margin is 51-49 or 55-45 or somewhere in between. Betting on 55-45 is no longer a fool’s errand.

Article Source: John Ellis, Political News Items

4. Trump to go on Joe Rogan Podcast

Joe Rogan has the hottest mic in America.  Donald Trump is making a much-anticipated stop at the Austin studio for the nation’s No. 1 podcaster, with a taping scheduled for Friday that could air as soon as Saturday. The visit to “The Joe Rogan Experience” is part of his final push to reach voters just over a week ahead of the election. Vice President Kamala Harris’s camp has also been in discussions to come on the show, but an appearance looks increasingly unlikely, with sticking points including the location and timing, according to people familiar with the talks. Podcasts are wielding unprecedented power in this election, as the biggest names in the medium prove they can deliver audiences that rival or even surpass the viewership of network or cable news. A slot on Rogan’s show—which regularly draws 15 million listeners across platforms such as Spotify and YouTube, including a lot of young men—became increasingly attractive to both campaigns in recent weeks as they duke it out in battleground states for undecided votes in a close race.   

Article Source: WSJ

5. Friday Ukraine Update: UKRAINE SAYS NORTH KOREAN TROOPS ALREADY THERE

Ukraine’s military intelligence service, the HUR, says the first Russia-trained North Korean soldiers have deployed to the Kursk region of Russia, where Kyiv launched a major incursion in August. “On October 23, 2024, their presence was recorded in the Kursk region," the Ukrainian intelligence agency said in a statement. If confirmed, this would mean that North Korean forces have already entered the Russia-Ukraine war on Moscow’s side – although, importantly, still on Russian soil.   Pyongyang’s deployment of thousands of troops to Russia has stunned policymakers and experts across the world. The HUR said that North Korea has dispatched almost 12,000 troops to Russia; the Ukrainian report said the contingent includes 500 officers and three generals. It added that Russian Deputy Defense Minister Yunu-bek Yevkurov has been appointed to oversee the North Korean forces, who were to be given “a few weeks” to adjust before deployment. The U.S. said Wednesday that 3,000 North Korean troops are in Russia for training. South Korea’s Intelligence Service offered the same figure.    While a Kremlin spokesperson has rejected reports of the North Korean deployment as “fake news,” President Vladimir Putin has not denied the reports. When asked by reporters about North Korean troop movements, Putin said that it is the West that has escalated the war and emphasized that the way Russia and North Korea run their mutual defense clause “is our business.”  North Korea’s deployment of troops to Russia (and perhaps next to Ukraine) has raised concerns about an unprecedented global expansion of the war in Ukraine. If North Korean troops end up on the battlefield in Ukraine, it will mark the first time a third country has boots on the ground in the war. As one diplomat put it, there is now a real “escalation potential” that others will follow suit — France and Poland have considered the idea of sending outside troops to Ukraine, and South Korea’s President warned today that it “won’t sit idle” if North Korean troops join the fight in Ukraine. Elaine Shannon reports in The Cipher Brief about fears that the North Korean move is a step closer to a potential “World War”

Article Source: Cipher Brief

October 25 1960: 1st electronic wrist watch placed on sale, NYC

Sources

1. https://www.wsj.com/world/russia-provided-targeting-data-for-houthi-assault-on-global-shipping-eabc2c2b?st=V3mFrD&reflink=article_copyURL_share

2. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03403-4

3. https://open.substack.com/pub/politicalitems/p/1980-redux?r=d9vo5&utm_medium=ios

4. https://www.wsj.com/business/media/joe-rogan-takes-center-stage-in-an-election-season-dominated-by-podcasts-2c14d348?st=KunitD&reflink=article_copyURL_share

5. email