Miscellaneous News

tamsen_ikard said:

As I said, facts always lag behind perception. Chinese Brands are slowly gaining popularity around the world. Hisense is one of the top TV brands in the US now for example. Chinese are starting to enter people's lives in developed countries. They have penetrated much deeper in poorer countries where Chinese electronics brands are even more prominent.

Chinese cars are starting gain popularity around the world as well. But it will take more time and happen gradually.

Alot of Chinese Apps are now top chart holders in App stores.

So, China is slowly getting there. But it will take more take time for China to equal the west. Plus, Chinese wealth and GDP Per Capita in Nominal terms will also rise at the same time. Chinese Universities will also gain more prominence and someday maybe students from all over the globe will come to study there.

As these things happen, perception will also change. In the future, Hong Kongers will no longer be ashamed to be called Chinese. Taiwanese may also embrace their Chinese identity.

I expect this to happen by 2050, so by then, a peaceful reunification might be possible, backed by Chinese military and Economic might that is several times stronger than today and much less anti-Chinese perception by Taiwanese who will start to see China as a role model.

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It doesn't matter if Hong Kongers are ashamed of being Chinese or not. It is nice if they aren't, no big deal if they are. If they don't like it they can go to UK and call themselves British like 100k did. It also doesn't matter too much what Taiwanese think when it comes time to liberate the territory.

GDP measured in USD is mattering less and less anymore, as USD's value is no longer stable due to rapidly fluctuating inflation and interest rates. US doesn't hold 50% of global GDP like it did in the 50's-80's, so there's no special reason for nominal GDP to really matter anymore. Instead at this point its all about physical input/output.

A 25% increase in 7 years from 2008-2015, but a 50% increase in the next 7 years 2015-2022. You'd think then that the US economy was greatly accelerating since 2015.

Yet how come almost all physical economic parameters are down or flat such as energy consumption, car sales, average housing size, retail spending, etc?

According to a new report from

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, the average apartment space per person is now about 540 square feet, based on the ratio of the average apartment size to the average number of renters living in a household across the U.S.

As the total apartment size has decreased throughout the past 10 years, so has the amount of living space per renter.

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So clearly, GDP as measured in USD is no longer representative of economic reality. How can you get richer while energy consumption is declining, less cars are being sold, people live in smaller dwellings, life expectancy declines, etc?

And if GDP measured in USD doesn't represent reality, then your entire theory falls apart.

Who must go?

Serb said:

This is the first reasonable comment from you I read so far. However, in the rest of the world, the developing world, 85% of the human population, or the "Global South", China is already at least on par with the US in perception and influence. In Africa and in the Middle East perception is on the Chinese side, for example, while in South America and the rest of Asia it is close call or a slight Western advantage. And it's not just perception, it's about economic influence, diplomatic influence, and ideological influence, China is already on par with the West. West only has a hard power against those parts of the globe in terms of threatening power, however, people's hearts are already on the Chinese side.

However, no matter what heights China reaches in the future, Taiwanese people will never accept peaceful reunification! They are already too far gone in Western influence in addition to developing their own national identities. It is going backward, but which every passing year more and more Taiwanese are identifying as full Taiwanese discarding any kind of connections with China. Look no further than Ukraine, despite Russia having x2 their GDP per capita, before the war, they still auto-destructed themselves instead of even barely acknowledging Russian interests and identity in their country. That's what awaits Taiwan as well. And I don't know why do you think that China has the patience to wait until 2050 with all those Pelosi, and McCarthy visits, weapon sales, other bullshit, etc?

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But neither is it relevant what citizens on Taiwan think. Anyone from China is allowed to emigrate to any country on the globe if they don't like it at home, and they have the wealth to do this. People in China now have a higher gdp per capita than those in Europe. There is no excuse.

China will keep trying to make the KMT stand down with peaceful means. Even if it takes until 2050 or even later. Because KMT alone in its current form does not threaten either the security or economy of the country.

At the same time, China will keep defending its territory, including its capability to wipe out an American invasion and conduct counteroffensives.

Addendum: you can indeed have more physical wealth but lower energy consumption, less cars, smaller houses, etc. if an equivalent increase in public service is being provided. Of course, there is no positive for lower life expectancy (for the people)

So let's examine if there was increased public services to match the decline in private consumption.





New housing starts: has not even recovered to pre 2008 peak levels.



Looks to me like private consumption was cut and public consumption did not make up for it. Yet the economy supposedly expanded by 50% from 2015-2022.

Serb said:

This is the first reasonable comment from you I read so far. However, in the rest of the world, the developing world, 85% of the human population, or the "Global South", China is already at least on par with the US in perception and influence. In Africa and in the Middle East perception is on the Chinese side, for example, while in South America and the rest of Asia it is close call or a slight Western advantage. And it's not just perception, it's about economic influence, diplomatic influence, and ideological influence, China is already on par with the West. West only has a hard power against those parts of the globe in terms of threatening military power, however, people's hearts are already on the Chinese side.

However, no matter what heights China reaches in the future, Taiwanese people will never accept peaceful reunification! They are already too far gone in Western influence in addition to developing their own national identities. It is not going backward, but forward. With every passing year, more and more Taiwanese are identifying as full Taiwanese discarding any kind of connections with China. Look no further than Ukraine, despite Russia having x2 their GDP per capita, before the war, they still auto-destructed themselves instead of even barely acknowledging Russian interests and identity in their country. That's what awaits Taiwan as well. And I don't know why do you think that China has the patience to wait until 2050 with all those Pelosi, and McCarthy visits, weapon sales, other bullshit, etc? I think China has the patience to wait until 2027 at most.

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Here bro I disagree, like many people here assume that Filipinos had an undying love for America which is not. Only in Metro Manila and that constitute about 15% of the population. My sister married a Taiwanese and he is proud of his CHINESE HERITAGE and most Taiwanese I know of share the same sentiment, their politics may differ BUT we share a common bond and understanding.

As China rise in prominence so is their perception, The myth of US invisibility is being shattered here in ASIA. China is being welcome because the Chinese had given the Global South a big voice and an alternative. Before being Chinese is Ugly now you're beautiful.

luminary said:

Intrigued when this CGTN news anchor seemingly implied that 9/11 could also have been an inside job (she compares the Nord stream bombing to it and Hersh is completely surprised). Didn't know this particular view was prominent in the establishment.

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Pearl Harbor - US broke Japanese codes and knew about the attack, they let it happen to time their entry into WWII after releasing Nazi was going to lose in order to come out on top from the whole thing... its still Americans playbook right now

9/11 - PNAC document had a plane crash into the Pentagon, plus they airred "live" the free fall collapse of WTC7 too early while it was still standing, and WTC7 was steel building never hit by any plane and collapsed at a rate and manner that could only have been from sync'd demolition

Covid - back in early December 2019 I recall reading a page on CNN about mysterious new SARS lung virus hitting Wuhan China... then nothing came of it... at the time I had this wierd sensation this was an article "planted" so they could ramp up later if needed, just like the word "ISIS" literally came out of nowhere right after they purportedly killed Bin Laden for ostensibly his role in 911, then immediately dropped Al-CIA-Duh and frontpaged those John beheadings on CNN for months on end in order to bring and brand "ISIS" into the American conciousness... Anyway, in the moment I knew something was very wrong, that they were name dropping and seeding this article early on in anticipation of future reference etc etc... then the article dissappered... later in early 2020 I read about again this new Wuhan Sars virus, and I thought to myself why are they restarting this bullshit again, at the time I had no idea what it was about to turn into...


Beirut port explosion -- brought to you by the same masterminds of Nordstream 2 explosions... its to contain China's BRI expansion efforts

Deagel 2025 - American gov and US elites realize it cant win the great power competition against China, and on the heels of petrodollar hegemony collapsing and USD going to near zero and the likes of ChatGPT making most jobs redundant, decides to cull and sacrifice the bottom 80% of its own useless eaters...

You guys are wasting your time. Dunno why everyone pays so much attention to what Wanwan thinks of China. So much useless soft power crap talk

You must have all missed the August Chinese military exercises which made Wanwanese pee in the pants. The only thing that matters is hard power. Drill that into your heads and you will finally understand how the real world works.

And btw Wanwan is irrelevant here. This is a US-China hegemonic clash, and the victor out of this clash will determine Wanwan's fate. Wanwanese have as much control of their foreign policy as Ukrainian citizens

Overbom said:

You guys are wasting your time. Dunno why everyone pays so much attention to what Wanwan thinks of China. So much useless soft power crap talk

You must have all missed the August Chinese military exercises which made Wanwanese pee in the pants. The only thing that matters is hard power. Drill that into your heads and you will finally understand how the real world works.

And btw Wanwan is irrelevant here. This is a US-China hegemonic clash, and the victor out of this clash will determine Wanwan's fate. Wanwanese have as much control of their foreign policy as Ukrainian citizens

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Bro so true, Bamboo is considered a national plant in Taiwan, I wonder Why?

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, after visiting Moscow, arrived with his wife in the UAE, where he will hold talks with the emirates on further normalizing relations and developing cooperation.

Just over 6 years ago, the UAE, together with the Saudis, threatened Russia and Assad with military intervention in Syria. But times have changed and the UAE left the anti-Assad coalition.

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Mayor Of Seoul Calls For South Korea To Develop Nuclear Weapons​

South Korea should develop and build nuclear weapons as a means to defend itself from the growing nuclear threat from North Korea, the mayor of Seoul, Oh Se-hoon, said in an with Reuters published on Monday.

South Korea doesn’t have a domestic nuclear weapons program, but the recent tensions over increased threats from North Korea have intensified calls from some politicians in South Korea that the south needs to be able to defend itself.

“North Korea has nearly succeeded in miniaturising and lightening tactical nuclear weapons and secured at least dozens of warheads,” Oh told Reuters in an exclusive interview.

“We've come to a point where it is difficult to convince people with the logic that we should refrain from developing nuclear weapons and stick to the cause of denuclearisation.”

Oh and other members of South Korea’s ruling conservative People Power Party have been advocating for a domestic nuclear arsenal in the increasingly heated debate over whether South Korea should have nuclear weapons.

According to the most recent opinion polls among South Koreans, a majority of them the development of nuclear weapons in the country.

“Taken together, the data suggests that the support for a domestic nuclear weapons program is robust, long-standing, and unlikely to dissipate,” Karl Friedhoff, the Marshall M. Bouton Fellow for Asia Studies at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, last month.

Meanwhile, North Korea on Monday that it would “mercilessly punish” the United States, just ahead of the largest U.S.-South Korea military drills in years. North Korea has also launched two cruise missiles from a submarine.

South Korea’s Joint Chief of Staff on Monday confirmed it had detected a launch from North Korea, adding that the “The detailed specifications are being analyzed precisely by the South Korean and US intelligence authorities,” per the statement cited by Bloomberg.

Serb said:

Look no further than Ukraine, despite Russia having x2 their GDP per capita, before the war, they still auto-destructed themselves instead of even barely acknowledging Russian interests and identity in their country. That's what awaits Taiwan as well

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. Taiwanese are much wealthy they have infrastructure and privileges of first world. and it is also reflected in there weopon systems.
Ukrainians look for work in Poland. and cities like Warsaw either lack urban planners or corruption. Cities need to have that look on top of infrastructure to make them appealing whether its historic building or new districts. The wealth gap between Russians and Ukrainians much higher once you are outside main cities. Putin has to drive around in 20 years old Toyota to blend in Mariupol. these people haven't seen development in life. but if he was in Sochi, Krasnodar, Anapa, Grozny, Nalchik or Ossetia. he could be in fleet of hundreds of sports cars and people will still appreciate it. No amount of statistics can capture this difference but those who interact at personal level they know it..