Miscellaneous News

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).

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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.

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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.

canonicalsadhu said:

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.

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Because it’s a trick. Trump can’t force the Europeans to drop their trade barriers and the Russians know that. Another point inside the rumored proposals is that the conflict should freeze on the existing frontlines in April, which is something that Russia will reject.

Phead128 said:

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

Wow, Ms. Ching Chong actually said this??

Does Ms. Ching Chong read SDF???

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Yes. She is secretly in love with @Maikeru.

Eventine said:

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.

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Don't think so. I think the US has done everything it can to stop Huawei without risking causing itself tremendous harm. If it seems like it hasn't used the nuclear option yet, it's because they ran it through several models and the result was a high risk of an economic war leading to the death of the dollar and US financial system as the center of global economics.

America is about to get run the fuck over. It is either losing or has already lost every edge in tech to China and the trend is only accelerating. The 6th gens should make it strikingly clear that they won't even have a military advantage for much longer. If they're still not doing everything they can, then they're too stupid to be sitting on that throne anyway.

"Some steelmakers in Canada and Mexico are telling customers that they are refusing new orders to the U.S. on concerns that President Donald Trump soon will reimpose duties.[...]"

"China strategy for trump2.0" discussion:

Fatty said:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1883620099862773842

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

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Right. We all know that having back to back corporate meetings is the key to improving innovation and productivity here.

Temstar said:

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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.

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“IT’S A REALLY, surprisingly user-friendly experience,” says Stephen Askins, a shipping lawyer, of his interactions with the Houthis, the militia that has been attacking commercial ships in the Red Sea for more than a year. “You write to them, respectfully. They write back, respectfully, and wish you a happy passage.”

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The Houthis are honestly wholesome, chill, principled guys. In return Allah has granted them +100% damage resistance against American made munitions.

What i like about Deepseek is that when you ask it to double check calculations, it actually does and can stand by its answer whereas ChatGPT can be prompted to doubt itself and 'hallucinate'.

Robinhood extended Sunday trading has Nvidia down -5%.