Miscellaneous News

KYli said:

As for debts owe to China, that needs to work out but Argentina is a middle upper income nation so it is unlikely it could get off the hook.

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How could China actually get its loans paid by an anti-China government??

I'm genuinely curious what the game plan is with getting all these loans paid back...China's already had to forgive at least two dozen of its African loans so far -- loans that were low or even no-interest to begin with! And still I personally know two Africans who think China's bullying Taiwan and practicing predatory lending and neo-colonialism....

gelgoog said:

Their major issue is still lack of automation, and that is why they need someone who can provide them with those capabilities.

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Okay, could you spell out the details or link to an essay or something? Sorry for not seeing how a lack of automation translates into being a Chinese Canada or Australia -- though certainly that would be a great outcome!

Russians aren't lacking in technical expertise, are they? They don't have the kind of "all-around" economy of China of course but surely they can figure out automation on their own if need be, even if not as good as China's 99% automated ports and warehouses.

KYli said:

BRICS shouldn't have offered Argentina's membership in the first place. Although, Argentina not joining BRICS is a good thing. As for debts owe to China, that needs to work out but Argentina is a middle upper income nation so it is unlikely it could get off the hook.

As for the election, Argentinians have always had a poor choice of electing sensible leaders. However, they are desperate for a change. Although, Milei is the worst possible choice and he would destroy Argentina if most of his major policies were enacted.

But most of MSM in the West does support Milei and rally behind him even though they are not decisive factor in the election. For whatever reason, the West dislikes Peronists and doesn't mind supporting crazy leader to topple Peronists. Frankly, I want to see how quickly things would unravel.

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How the west support is not a decisive factor? The most young generation in the world has been brainwashed by the west media.

Milei was an awful candidate, he's emotionally unstable, he is clearly crazy (self promoted sex guru WTF) and many of his propositions don't hold a critical analysis, BUT...

What most people in this forum seems to ignore is that the other candidate that represents peronism (the political movement that has impoverished the country for decades) is the current minister of economy.
The guy is not even an economist, he is responsible for the >100% inflation rate Argentina is facing.

The guy has created over 20 types of dólar. Like if you want to go to concert you pay the Coldplay dolar (+30% more expensive than oficial rates) if you want to travel abroad and use your credit card you pay the Qatar dolar (+100% more expensive) etc.

God forbids but in that situation I would have voted for Milei too.

DavidChou said:

How could China actually get its loans paid by an anti-China government??

I'm genuinely curious what the game plan is with getting all these loans paid back...

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If Argentina wants to default on their loans and instantly nuke their economy again. Let them do it. Global investors, financiers, and banks will tack on more terms if Argentina wants to open pandora box when even the Americans refused to open it.

DavidChou said:

How could China actually get its loans paid by an anti-China government??

I'm genuinely curious what the game plan is with getting all these loans paid back...China's already had to forgive at least two dozen of its African loans so far -- loans that were low or even no-interest to begin with! And still I personally know two Africans who think China's bullying Taiwan and practicing predatory lending and neo-colonialism....

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You just take what is owed from their international connections. And/or browbeat the locals into handing over new deals by threatening to do so.

luminary said:

Noooooooooo my AI girlfriend suddenly turned off!

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404Media

People who paid to speak to an AI girlfriend modeled after real life 23-year-old influencer Caryn Marjorie are distraught because the service they paid for, Forever Companions, no longer works. It appears that the service stopped working shortly after Forever Companion CEO and founder John Meyer was arrested for trying to set his own apartment on fire.

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For AI, there is no intelligence, only logarithm. And so, the foundation model is trained on a large amount of data of conversations, and then augmented by continue conversation with user. And so, basically, the users are speaking sexually explicit dialogue to the AI talk bot for it to learn and speak like this.

DavidChou said:

How could China actually get its loans paid by an anti-China government??

I'm genuinely curious what the game plan is with getting all these loans paid back...China's already had to forgive at least two dozen of its African loans so far -- loans that were low or even no-interest to begin with! And still I personally know two Africans who think China's bullying Taiwan and practicing predatory lending and neo-colonialism...

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Either Argentina filed for bankruptcy or paid China back the loan. Beside, Argentina owes over 44 billions to IMF. It is an IMF's problem not China. China's loan with Argentina is mostly currency swap which is a short term temporary loan that Argentina needs to repay first. If not, Argentina would need to file another bankruptcy immediately. IMF would be the one screaming and bitching not China if Argentina defaulted on its loans again.

As for Africa, many African nations owed money to all over the world. Total trade between China and Africa is over 282 billion. Those loan is the cost of doing business in Africa. At least, China is much more successful in Africa with trade and infrastructure investment and commodity trade.

Why should China care about some liberal or pro West Africans think about China? Whatever they think won't change anything as China is still the only game in town. Western powers are all talk and no show. Anti-China African leaders who got elected through anti-China messages end up continuing the relationship with China. It is extremely naive to think every Africans should love China and appreciate what China has done for the continent.

canonicalsadhu said:

I didn't see much discussion of Xi's speech to business leaders and his American friends:

In text:

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Overall surprisingly conciliatory and sincere speech.

I'm sure some will read this as weakness but to me it's a sign of maturity and humility that despite all the mudslinging and toxic rhetoric coming from Washington, despite China being in a more powerful position than ever before, Xi still delivers such a gesture of goodwill and sincerity. His overarching theme throughout the visit is to promote more people-to-people exchanges to better understand each other.

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The speech is standard PR. People-to-people relations are all good and nice but the main difference between US and China is structural.

The reigning hegemon cannot, and will not, tolerate a rising superpower challenging it. Never happened in history before (no, don't mention the UK->US transition), and I bet it ain't going to happen now or in the future either. End of story

yust said:

Milei was an awful candidate, he's emotionally unstable, he is clearly crazy (self promoted sex guru WTF) and many of his propositions don't hold a critical analysis, BUT...

What most people in this forum seems to ignore is that the other candidate that represents peronism (the political movement that has impoverished the country for decades) is the current minister of economy.
The guy is not even an economist, he is responsible for the >100% inflation rate Argentina is facing.

The guy has created over 20 types of dólar. Like if you want to go to concert you pay the Coldplay dolar (+30% more expensive than oficial rates) if you want to travel abroad and use your credit card you pay the Qatar dolar (+100% more expensive) etc.

God forbids but in that situation I would have voted for Milei too.

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How can a country of 45 million not create any more competent candidates? You can probably send up a small child like Greta Thunberg and they would do a better job.

This is a trend across the third world: inability to govern themselves. The mindset of China should change, from believing these to be agreement capable individuals, to providing a firm guiding hand through more direct means of control.