Happy Friday. Some starter questions today, and of course please feel free to discuss anything else you want:

• How worried should government officials around the world be about the sanctions (here and here) on former Trump officials announced earlier this week? How should the Biden Administration view the timing of the announcement, made while he was making his inauguration speech?

• What are we to make of the resurgence of claims the virus originated in a US Army lab, and that foreign vaccines are not safe?

• What are we to make of Guo Shuqing’s claims in a speech (English, Chinese) earlier this week that “more recently, they accused China of state capitalism. because China has a strong public sector and its industrial policies distort the market. This is a big misunderstanding. 近些年的指责是，“国家垄断资本主义”。其最主要的依据是，中国有强大的国有经济部门，国家产业政策扭曲了市场关系。这显然是一个极大的误解”?

• Where was this photo taken?

This week’s newsletters:

January 18 - Outbreaks; GDP; WHO investigation; Vaccine narrative struggle; "East rising and …