9/23/2024

My Dear Friend & POTUS, JRB,

            Are you ready for your conversation with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan at the WH to discuss advanced technology, artificial intelligence, investments & space exploration? Folks speculate that they want us to share AI secrets, but their relationship with China makes that risky. I don’t know enough about AI to make an informed opinion, do you?

            I wish everyone in the world could trust each other so we wouldn’t have to have secrets & always worry about “security.” Humans could accomplish so much if we could let down our defenses. Call me naïve, but exercising my moral imagination to envision the world as it could be, brings me hope.

            In other news, my brother just became a grandpa. His eldest gave birth to a 7 pounder with XX chromosomes. Time will tell what the child’s gender identity might be. In the meantime, we rejoice!

            I was disappointed to read that Jake Sullivan called the death of Hezbollah commander, Ibrahim Akil, 61, “a good outcome.” Killing is never “good,” & extrajudicial killing is wrong! WINTA!

As we ponder world tensions did you hear that India has invited folks from the Arakan Army, Chin National Front & Kachin Independence Army to a seminar in Nov? Reuters calls the invitation “unprecedented.”

Now that Modi has recognized the ethnic armies, why not do so yourself? Reuters notes that “It was not immediately clear if Myanmar's military government would also be invited to the event, which the sources said would be on the topic of "Constitutionalism and Federalism". 

My family is facing a similar invitation dilemma as we decide whether or not to invite all of our cousins to a family reunion at our cabin next Aug. One has disowned her siblings. Do we invite everyone & face the flak that will ensue? Do we exclude that whole branch of the family to avoid the issue? Do we try to be peacemakers? Any suggestions?

For now, we’ll just focus on celebrating our newest family member.

BYBS,