๐ฐ๐ท | High tensions in South Korea as protests erupt against Iran war deployment plans.
South Korea is actively preparing to become the first country to join the US militarily in the Strait of Hormuz โ and Seoul has seen daily protests ever since officials confirmed it.
Police tried to contain demonstrators as they took to the streets. With slogans such as "Everyone opposed to the Hormuz deployment, unite!" and "Refuse US military pressure!", activists are protesting near the US embassy in the capital.
The demonstrations are organised by Seoul Peace Solidarity and National People's Action, which have urged the government not to bow to US pressure or capitulate to Washington, and vowed to continue the mobilisations. Further protests are planned.
Washington has pressured Seoul for months to deploy forces to West Asia. It has never looked closer to reality.
Seoul has notified Washington it is willing to dispatch naval ships and maritime patrol aircraft, and local media report parliamentary approval is already being prepared.
It would be South Korea's first deployment at US request in 22 years.
The deployment still requires that approval to proceed, but officials confirmed preparations are already under way regardless.
While South Korea frames the package as "defensive," it would actively supply and enable US military operations against Iran, providing logistics, intelligence and direct cooperation with US forces.
South Korea imports essentially all of its crude oil, 70% of it from the Gulf, leaving it heavily dependent on traffic through the Strait.
Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei warned Seoul on Monday, in Korean, that any country operating in the Strait would be regarded as directly supporting the aggressor, and that a sovereign state must not yield to US pressure.
Just last month, Washington downgraded its most important annual drills with Seoul, saying South Korea had refused to back its war on Iran.
South Korea is arguably the most subordinated country in the world to the US military. Under OPCON, it is the only country on earth whose military would pass to American command in wartime.
It hosts one of the largest US contingents anywhere, and Washington is its most important diplomatic and military partner.
2 hours and 35 minutes after the UK announced a ban on goods from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, NATS, the UKโs air traffic control provider, is experiencing a โtechnical issueโ that's grounding all flights at the UKโs largest airports.
https://t.co/SNKeIBsfSW
@TwiftTFT let's assume you're committing the lose streak with bad item start
Get 3 Blossom (econ wisp) and place 3 inferno at Lv 6 (for higher % of a 4c and 5c at Lvl 7)
You can get a 4c from carousel when you are still bot 4.
Prioritize having 2 star 3c Tank with items at least into Lv 8
Nike's market cap hit a peak of $280B in November 2021. It's now down to $57B (a $223B drop) and will be delisted from S&P 100.
Former Nike branding exec Massimo Giunco wrote a viral post in 2024 laying it all out. He blamed CEO John Donahoe (2020-2024) for going all in on direct-to-consumer (DTC)...with a cameo from McKinsey:
โซ๏ธELIMINATE CATEGORIES: McKinsey advised Nike to get rid of categories (running, basketball, soccer) and re-classify everything into โWomenโ, โMenโ and โKidsโ.
The logic was that Nike was duplicating resources and a pivot to DTC would provide enough customer data to inform product decisions instead of relying on the category experts (eg. a basketball vet that spent 20+ years at Nike). A lot of these experts were fired and Nike lost their insights.
This was a clear L because Nike quietly brought back categories at end 2023.
โซ๏ธEND WHOLESALE LEADERSHIP: Nike ended hundreds of relationships with wholesales partners and prioritized Nike's website over retail.
The change looked genius during COVID but as customers returned to brick โn mortar, Nikeโs product were nowhere to be found. It had burnt bridges with partners, who were happy to give shelf space to upstarts (this wasnโt covered but I think On and Hoka took advantage of this for running)
There was also a lack of feedback from retailers, which led to inventory issues (the โdata-drivenโ insights from online sales proved to not be a panacea).
โซ๏ธPRIORITIZE DIGITAL MARKETING: Nike changed its marketing budget to focus on driving users to Nike digital properties and membership platforms.
For decades, Nike spent 10% of sales on brand advertising to create an aspirational halo. The prioritization of programmatic ad spend meant Nike went from โcreate demandโ (new customers) to โserve and retain demandโ (re-targeting existing ones).
The result was a slowdown in sales.
โBecause of that,โ writes Massimo Giunco (who spent 21 years at the company), โNike invested a material amount of dollars (billions) into something that was less effective but easier to be measured vs something that was more effective but less easy to be measured. In conclusion: an impressive waste of money.โ
The quality of advertising was also...not great.
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The focus on DTC is not surprising. Donahue was formerly CEO of B2B SAAS firm ServiceNow.
Nikeโs DTC business peaked at 44% of sales in 2024 (vs. under 30% before the strategy change).
The digital focus seems to have commoditized the product, impacted Nikeโs brand perception and created an opening for competitors.
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Original post: https://t.co/EAROAHEZRM
Dave Bautista shows off his training to play Kratos in the live-action โGOD OF WARโ series.
โ3rd week in to weight training again. 2 more months to get to where I need to be. Like ridin a bike! LFG!โ