Stories below the fold

StrategyPage on China and the trade war.

so does China have long term plans to take over the Russian far east?

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Fox News has a long, detailed report on the Thai rescue: They were lucky they didn't lose some of the kids, or more divers.

But the alternatives (digging a hole for rescue, using Elon Musk's submarine, leaving them there until the monsoon season ended, teaching the kids to scuba dive) would have taken too long and the risk of monsoon rains flooding the cave and killing all of them was high.

given that the pump that lowered the water level failed after the boys were rescued, it was a good call.

and the main rescue expert almost missed the call to help: he was ready to leave on a trip.

Reminds me of when I worked in Africa: We'd have emergencies two minutes before I left, or ten minutes after I came back from a trip...but as the nuns in Africa used to remind me: There are no coincidences, things happen for a reason.

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the Trump baby balloon may not be allowed to fly in New Jersey: A flight hazard.

Myself, I wondered about this, or about the balloon hitting and shorting out electric wires. But the main reason I wondered why it was allowed in London was about if it could be used to carry bombs or weapons.

In Israel, one little covered story is about firebombs on kites and baloons burning up their forests, and of course, similar firebomb baloons were used by Japan against the US in World War II...

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