Miscellaneous News

Eventine said:

Yes. We maybe in the waning days of the global US empire, but it could be decades before it all unravels.

The Eastern Roman Empire survived for a thousand years after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, gradually losing territory over the centuries, until it had nothing left. Even when the core lost its military edge, it limped on for centuries just off of its diplomacy, trade, and easily defensible borders.

The British Empire, by contrast, endured for much less time after its power was spent post-World War 2 since it was stretched across too many continents, but even then, it took decades for the empire to totally disintegrate.

The US is no longer at the peak of its power, and its diminishing is by now obvious.

But that doesn't mean we're going to be in a post-US world just within the window of a few years.

Click to expand...

I was referring to near term Hard Power that US still has due to access to global base network. They can instantly use it rather than waiting for sanctions to work on phone supply chains and the effectiveness of US empire depends on that phone call that Trump did with MBS. Gulf Monarchies are the biggest beneficiaries of this empire by creating Connectivity (airline routes), Extreme wealth and Soft Power. The Soft Power they know how to use it. Ukraine conflict is that example.
now they brought Meloni to tent.

The West is brainwashed into thinking that political freedom and innovation go hand-in-hand. That's why people can't believe that China came up with an AI model that beats theirs. So who's the the one that got it wrong? Look at how the naysayers are hung up on how much it really cost? Does it make DeepSeek a failure because they think it actually cost more? It still beats theirs. Then on top of that it's open-source. So what if they think it actually cost China more to build. They made it free for everyone. Why do they care if China wasted its money for nothing in return? Isn't that what they wanted to bankrupt China like Reagan did to the Soviet Union during the Cold War...? Their free minds just can't handle that thought.

Moonscape said:

yeah and they're already panicking





...


hilarious to see the self hating white worshipping 汉奸 反贼 走狗 like this

(translated via my local copy of DeepSeek 32b for the ultimate irony)

Click to expand...

This reads like how my anti-China father who is learning mandarin. LOL!

Temstar said:

Oh dear:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1883541206816211119

Click to expand...

Wow, Ms. Ching Chong actually said this??

"The arrogance of the West is similar to China's hubris during the Ming Dynasty when the "Middle Kingdom Syndrome" gave it the illusion that Chinese civilization was superior to the rest of the world, and that it did not need to learn anything from it. China has since learned from that. It takes the best from the West and adapts it for its own purposes. "

Click to expand...

Does Ms. Ching Chong read SDF???

FriedButter said:

5. Some sanctions against the Russian Federation will be lifted immediately after the conclusion of a peace agreement. Some - over the course of three years, depending on Russia's compliance with the parameters of the agreement. All restrictions on the import of Russian energy resources to the EU will be lifted. But for a certain period of time, it will be subject to a special duty by the Europeans, the proceeds of which will be used to restore Ukraine.

Click to expand...

Something is off here. Trump was the one who initiated sanctions against Nord-stream and is strong-arming the Europeans into buying US energy, meanwhile Europe and Russia have made it clear that they are not interested in restoring their energy relations, so why would such an item be on the menu? None of the parties - US, EU, Russia are interested in this. Except maybe Hungary but they are too small to drive such a demand.

Eventine said:

Not every smart phone supply chain runs through China. Samsung, for example, moved its manufacturing out of China a while ago to Vietnam, and the US could make a deal with Korea to buy up some of their manufacturing facilities. With how much the Koreans seem to love the US and hate China, it's a pretty plausible scenario.

Click to expand...

Samsung factories in Vietnan can't operate without Chinese suppliers. They were booking emergency airlifts of parts out of China during COVID.


Almost every single phone in the world passes through Chinese hands at some point.

siegecrossbow said:

It’s sixth gen, and two of them. Get it right if you want to be Wumao.

Click to expand...

dock his pay, only 25 cent for him

Moonscape said:

But any criticism of the Israeli government is antisemitism!

Click to expand...

I support Jewish ubermensch in their rightful conquest of lebensraum. Inferior Arabs needs extermination. If you disagree with me you are a nazi.

Temstar said:

This is why seigecrossbow mentioned the idiom Donkey of Guizhou. CPC did the prudent thing and observed what moves US could play. After a few years they came to the realisation "oh, is that all?" and now they're on the offensive.

Even so during the Trump 1.0 trade war years CPC did a lot as well. Recall when Meng Wanzhou got arrested in Canada they got MSS to grab two of their small fishes as chips to trade for her.

Click to expand...

That goes for both sides. The US also hasn't exercised its "nuclear" option with respect to economic warfare - not even on Huawei. It hasn't cut the company from the dollar transaction system, for example, and it hasn't applied similar sanctions to other leading Chinese companies like DJI, BYD, and Xiaomi, which Trump could certainly put on the table if he wanted to ignite Trade War 2.0.

It feels like much of what we're talking about now are just the light, probing attacks before the actual battle. Neither side has shown all their cards, and it would be foolish to assume the US is out of options just because it hasn't pressured harder.

The reality is that Trump is smart enough to understand that leverage comes from the threat of action, more so than the action itself. Biden did not understand this, which is why his "shock and awe" failed vis-a-vis Russia and actually strengthened Putin's hand. My guess is that Trump will make a similar move to try and squeeze a favorable deal out of China - he'll create a situation in which the bark is far worse than the bite, and hope Chinese negotiators will lose their nerve. Except this time, he'll also make the carrot sweeter to account for the US's relatively weaker position compared to 2018.

At a certain point you have to feel bad for meta. They’re spending 200m a training run and can’t even reach a good enough performance for them to post the model. At least meta does open sourcing

Some firms and countries are benefiting. Though the number of ships going through the strait has fallen by half, Chinese transits have increased and now make up a fifth of the 800-900 ships still transiting the Red Sea each month, according to an analysis of satellite data and ownership records (see chart 2). Most of the crude oil going through the Suez Canal is Russian, up from less than half (see chart 3).

Click to expand...

China has friendly ties with Iran, the Houthis’ main source of money and weapons, and Chinese vessels are not on the Houthis’ list of targets This creates a geopolitical arbitrage. Whereas American and British firms face insurance premiums of up to 2% of a vessel’s value. Chinese boats are reportedly paying as little as 0.35%, since their risk is lower.

Click to expand...

Lol you tell the Houthi "贫僧自东土大唐而来" and and they just let you through. This must be what the ancients meant when they wrote you should "用道德为弓弩，仁义为铠甲". Or to use a well know quote from EVE online: the most powerful ship is friendship.