"The pandemic is over," he said. "We still have a problem with COVID. We're still doing a lot of work on it. But the pandemic is over. If you notice, no one's wearing masks. Everybody seems to be in pretty good shape, and so I think it's changing, and I think [the Detroit auto show resuming after three years] is a perfect example of it." Yet, Biden's own administration seeks an additional $22.4 billion from Congress to keep funding the fight against COVID.

“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.”
Pablo Picasso

If we believe the myth China is the only culture with long term planning and goals - no one looks at our own governments and elites for long arching plans and activities. Monday's Open Thread 9/26 - What's Latin for Unmitigated Evil? Dudum siquidem! identified the beginning of Europe's claim to divide all of the world to European nations. A few decades later after the Protestant nations of England and The Netherlands separated from the Catholic hierarchy each embarked on ocean travels claiming parts of the world.

English merchants were looking for a market to sell their primary export product harvested annually from sheep. They headed north since wool keeps people warm in winter and the Spanish and Portuguese controlled southern routes.

During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I trade privileges with Russia was granted to the Muscovay Company.
Audio reading Wikipedia of Muscovy Company (11.37)

The Muscovy Company was an English trading company chartered in 1555. It was the first major chartered joint stock company, the precursor of the type of business that would soon flourish in England and finance its exploration of the world. The Muscovy Company had a monopoly on trade between England and Muscovy until 1698 and it survived as a trading company until the Russian Revolution of 1917. Since 1917 the company has operated as a charity, now working within Russia

The Muscovy Company traces its roots to the Company of Merchant Adventurers to New Lands (in full: "Mystery and Company of Merchant Adventurers for the Discovery of Regions, Dominions, Islands, and Places unknown") founded in 1551 by Richard Chancellor, Sebastian Cabot and Sir Hugh Willoughby, who decided to look for the Northeast Passage to China.
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In 1571, the company's right to free trade and navigation down the Volga was revoked by Ivan IV, who had been offended by English demands to close Russian trade to other European nations. Jenkinson returned to Moscow in 1572 in an attempt to restore the company's privileges, a task at which he was largely successful. However, a cooling of Anglo-Russian relations was evident