The element lithium is emerging as a strategic commodity because of its role as a battery material in electric vehicles and renewable energy. China, with over 9 million tons of reserves, has been a major supplier. With tensions rising between China and U.S.-allied nations, the U.S. has been looking [...]
Archive for the ‘China’ Category
October 21st, 2024 - 11:34 pm § in China
U.S. revives Tinian airfields for conflict with China
During the closing stages of World War 2, American B-29s based on Tinian bombed Japan, culminating in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. (Read that history here.) Now the U.S. is reclaiming the abandoned runways from jungle overgrowth, to use as a backup in case U.S. planes must be dispe[...]
Pentagon “concerned” by Chinese-Russian cooperation
China and Russia just wrapped up a week of joint military exercises with hundreds of ships and planes. This was “the latest in a recent slew of military exercises and joint patrols between Russia and China that come on the heels of vows from Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to tighten milit[...]
July 18th, 2024 - 11:54 pm § in China
Don’t use commie cooking oil, it’ll give you a gut ache
Capitalism has crooks like this guy, but communism is worse. In fact, China is one of the world’s more corrupt countries (see ratings here and article here), so they can’t say their system is superior to ours in that respect. Feloniously sloppy airplane assembly is bad, but so far has on[...]
June 25th, 2024 - 6:53 pm § in America, Biden, China, Donald Trump, Europe, Foreign Affairs, Israel/Palestine, Politics, Republicans, Russia, Saudi Arabia
Is Biden senile?
Let’s figure this out. My raw material is Time magazine’s June 24, 2024, cover story (here). It’s mostly about foreign policy; I can only quote short excerpts, for space and fair use reasons, and encourage you to read the entire article linked above. It begins, “During his 40[...]
May 9th, 2024 - 9:54 pm § in Biden, China, Democrats, Donald Trump, Economics, Politics, Republicans
Is Biden or Trump worse for inflation?
Polls show inflation is a top concern of voters, and could decide the 2024 election. If you chose a candidate based on that issue, who would you go with, Biden or Trump? Here are 5 reasons why Trump might be the worst pick: 1. Trump favors tariffs. Trump claims tariffs would be paid by China [&hel[...]
June 5th, 2023 - 1:02 pm § in China
Collision course
The U.S. and China are on a collision course. A war isn’t inevitable, but is increasingly likely. The incidents depicted in the videos below aren’t accidental nor the actions of rogue crews. They’re deliberate, calculated, choreographed, practiced, and ordered from the top. Most li[...]
Nikki Haley wants to “save America”
From what? Union wages? Women controlling their own bodies? Queer people? In a townhall on Sunday, June 4, 2023 (read story here), she wouldn’t get specific about abortion. Women voters are entitled to assume she would sign a nationwide ban, because that’s what Republicans are enacting [...]
Panicky Buffett dumps shares in Taiwan chipmaker
Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett’s holding company, has sold all its recently-acquired shares in Taiwan Semiconductor (TSMC), which makes nearly all the world’s most advanced computer chips. He was explicit about why: He’s worried about the location of TSMC’s factories in T[...]
March 31st, 2023 - 2:20 am § in China
Protests? In China?
Well yeah, Chinese citizens have been adopting the decadent Western practice of taking to the streets to object to actions by their government. There were, of course, the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, spurred in part by inflation and demands for more democracy, which ended with bodies crushed unde[...]