Welcome to Saturday's Potluck - July 22, 2023
“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.”
Pablo Picasso
Just some news today.
Technology Theater
The chip war has hit a few stumbling blocks in transferring production back to US.
Sorry Gina, the chip industry isn’t coming back to America Asia Times July 12, 2023 (behind a paywall)
Contrary to US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and other high-tech nationalists’ wishes, the semiconductor industry is not migrating back to America any time soon.
On the contrary, the globalization of production capacity and new technology development is accelerating away from the US. Ironically, Biden administration subsidies for establishing semi-conductor factories in the US and export restrictions on high-end chips and chip-making equipment are helping to drive the process – and not just in China.
...
Meanwhile, Intel, an enthusiastic recipient of the Biden administration’s CHIPS Act subsidies, has tellingly announced plans to invest more money outside the US than inside. Its new factory investments include:$20 billion in Arizona
$2+ billion in Ohio
More than 30 billion euros ($33+ billion) for new wafer processing facilities in Germany, plus up to $4.6 billion for assembly and test facilities in Poland
$25 billion in Israel – more than the $17 billion Intel has invested there since 1974
...
America’s Micron Technology, meanwhile, announced plans in June to invest more than $600 million in new packaging and test facilities at its factory in Xi’an, China, to “enhance the company’s flexibility in manufacturing a variety of product portfolios” for Chinese customers. Micron also intends to acquire the local packaging facilities of Taiwan’s Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing under a previous agreement.This is the context in which we should consider Secretary Raimondo’s statement that the US “will develop multiple high-volume advanced packaging facilities, and become a global leader in packaging technologies.”
...
Like TSMC, Samsung plans to begin mass production at 2nm in 2025. Intel, hoping to leapfrog both of them and regain its industry leadership, aims to introduce its 18A (18 angstrom, or 1.8nm) process the same year.Whether that will be possible or not, that means there are three companies from three different countries competing to lead the logic IC and foundry market. Globalization is alive and well in the chip industry.
Oops - The speed of industry transfer is slowing down.
Taiwan's TSMC to delay Arizona chip fab until 2025 due to talent shortage Taiwan News July 2, 2023
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) will postpone semiconductor production at its Arizona plant until 2025, but Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) on Saturday (July 21) said Taiwan's government will help expedite the project.
During an investor conference call on Thursday (July 20), TSMC Chair Mark Liu (劉德音) said the number of personnel skilled in installing equipment at the Arizona facility is insufficient. Experienced personnel have been dispatched from Taiwan to train local employees in the relevant technologies, reported Business Next.
Liu added the decision has been made to delay the launch of mass production of wafers at the Arizona fab from 2024 to 2025. He added TSMC is introducing 4 nm technology to the U.S. and the equipment is quite advanced.
Ukraine Theater
Garland Nixon reads from multiple FBI documents expanding timeline of corruption known by FBI to at least 2014. There has been cover-up activity since at least 2020. Bidens are not the only ones mentioned. It does raise new questions such as how many parties have benefited in past, present and future in addition to the easy target to identify - defense contractors? Only need to watch the first 54 min. Did not locate a link to the documents to simply read.
MASSIVE FBI CORRUPTION REVEALED IN THE HUNTER BIDEN SCANDAL (1hr 10 min)
The pranksters have struck again. A couple of video clips in the article.
Rothschilds Have Had 'Fantastic Relationship' With Ukrainian Gov't Members, Prank Call Reveals Sputnik News July 21, 2023
In their latest escapade, Russian pranksters Vovan and Lexus posed as Ukrainian President Zelensky and spoke to Alexander Rothschild, the great-great-great-great-grandson of the founder of the dynasty.
...
In the newest episode of their show, Russian pranksters Vovan and Lexus posed as Ukrainian President Zelensky and spoke to Alexander Rothschild, the great-great-great-great-grandson of the founder of the dynasty. Alexander, who led the family of bankers and the Rothschild & Co holding in 2018, told “Zelensky” how his companies make money in Ukraine."As you know, our company has been acting in the interests of the Government of Ukraine, the Ministry of Finance, since 2017. And we have a great relationship with people in your government. We mainly dealt with the issues of attracting borrowed funds. As you know, we are not indifferent to your country, especially in the conditions of a very painful war for you," he said.
China Theater
Before moving on the next section - listen to the video linked in the Pepe Escobar article. Hard to believe some one is actually going on video record with worldwide distribution. (My bold) his first book published in 1968 "Coup d'État: A Practical Handbook" has been translated into 27 languages.
Edward Luttwak Wikepedia July 21, 2023
Luttwak was born into a Jewish family in Arad, Romania, and raised in Sicily and in England. -- Luttwak was a war volunteer in Israel in 1967 and later worked for the Israel Defense Forces. In 1972 he moved to the United States for graduate studies at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). He graduated with a PhD in International Relations in 1975. The title of his dissertation was Force and Diplomacy in Roman Strategies of Imperial Security.[3][4] Earlier, during a two-month visit to Washington, D.C. in 1969, Luttwak and Richard Perle, his former roommate in London, joined a thinktank, the Committee to Maintain a Prudent Defence Policy, assembled by Dean Acheson and Paul Nitze to lobby Congress for anti-ballistic missile systems.
In 1976 Luttwak published The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire from the First Century AD to the Third, which generated controversy among professional historians who saw Luttwak as an outsider and a non-specialist in the field. However, the book is recognized as seminal because it raised basic questions about the Roman Army and its defense of the Roman frontier. Later he started researching the Byzantine empire, beginning with its earliest surviving texts.[1] According to Harry Sidebottom, the majority of scholars were hostile to Luttwak's enthusiasm for fighting wars on client state territory and the book made uncomfortable reading in some circles in western Europe because in the 1980s Luttwak became a security consultant to U.S. President Ronald Reagan.
Edward Luttwak: Biden and Putin are ready to do a deal (starts at 26 min of 47 min, first part about Ukraine)
Probably cut and pasted a little too much. We are at another pivit point - best to read the complete article.
Pepe Escobar: Neocons Want War With China Sputnik News July 21, 2023
There’s the rub. Everyone involved in geopolitics is aware of the legendary Kissinger formulation: To be the US's enemy is dangerous, to be the US's friend is fatal. History abounds in examples, from Japan and South Korea to Germany, France and Ukraine.
As quite a few Chinese scholars privately argued, if reason is to be upheld, and “respecting the wisdom of this 100-years-old diplomat”, Xi and the Politburo should maintain the China-US relation as it is: “icy”.
After all, they reason, being the US's enemy is dangerous but manageable for a Sovereign Civilizational State like China. So Beijing should keep “the honorable and less perilous status” of being a US enemy.
...
What’s really going on in the back rooms of the current American administration was not reflected by Kissinger’s high-profile peace initiative, but by an extremely combative Edward Luttwak.Luttwak, 80, may not be as visibly influential as Kissinger, but as a behind the scenes strategist he’s been advising the Pentagon across the spectrum for over five decades. His book on Byzantine Empire strategy, for instance, heavily drawing on top Italian and British sources, is a classic.
Luttwak, a master of deception, reveals precious nuggets in terms of contextualizing current Washington moves. That starts with his assertion that the US – represented by the Biden combo – is itching to do a deal with Russia.
That explains why CIA head William Burns, actually a capable diplomat, called his counterpart, SVR head Sergey Naryshkin (Russian Foreign Intelligence) to sort of straighten things up “because you have something else to worry about which is more unlimited”.
...
Luttwak, in just a few words, actually gives away the whole game: “The Russian Federation, as it is, is not strong enough to contain China as much as we would wish”.
Hence the turn around by the Biden combo to “freeze” the conflict in the Donbass and change the subject. After all, “if that [China] is the threat, you don’t want Russia to fall apart,” Luttwak reasons.
...
And that brings us to former national security adviser Zbigniew “Grand Chessboard” Brzezinski’s 180-degree turn shortly before he died, aligning him today with Kissinger, not Luttwak.“The Grand Chessboard”, published in 1997, before the 9/11 era, argued that the US should rule over any peer competitor rising in Eurasia. Brzezinski did not live to see the living incarnation of his ultimate nightmare: a Russia-China strategic partnership. But already seven years ago – two years after Maidan in Kiev - at least he understood it was imperative to "realign the global power architecture".
...
The real war is already on – but certainly not one identified by Kissinger, Brzezinski and much less Luttwak and assorted US neocons. Michael Hudson, once again, summarized it: when it comes to the economy, the US and EU "strategic error of self-isolation from the rest of the world is so massive, so total, that its effects are the equivalent of a world war.”
What is on your mind today?
Comments
Good morning
Thanks for showcasing these important ledes. I do not watch MSM, so have no idea how
their explanations jive with alternate news. Assume them to be diametrically opposed.
This is not encouraging. Fighting for uncensored truth is an uphill battle.
I have no pat answers to this dilemma, but to seek comfort in the spirit world.
question everything
Wherever the empire goes, destruction accompanies it
It's chilling as to how we've become the worlds leading
terrorist organization.
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
great tunes gg
from an era when questioning the wisdom of fighting for 'peace'
burned thru the BS long enough to allow artists, musicians and
activists to make important statements which resonated with us
would also add this one -
question everything
What a different world it is that we now live in
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
All for getting out of the empire business
and get back to being one or several constitutional republics or confederations...
That said, the idea that peace, light and prosperity are going to magically spread with
the collapse or withdrawal of empire is incredibly naive. Such might happen eventually,
but likely not after a lot of chaos and destruction - or another, even more rapacious empire stepping in to fill the vacuum.
Belgian Congo to Zaire?
Rhodesia to Zimbabwe?
Collapse of Alexander the Great's empire?
Collapse of the Ottoman empire?
All the above were founded on conquest, but in all the above cases widespread violence and disruption ensued on the withdrawal or collapse of imperial rule - seems like the challenge is to transition to something stable where local sovereignty and rights are respected, not like Afghanistan where, instead of land raping Western companies grabbing the mineral and other resources, they will be grabbed instead by Chinese ones.
Anything to indicate that is likely to lead to a more positive outcome for the locals?
Hello there. I grew up with the Buffalo Springfield version.
But I really like this Del McCoury Band cover...
Around Portland sometime back, we had Tom Grant singing Witchi Tai To but Jim Pepper's rendition was very popular...
Thank you so much for the wonderful weekly compendium and good music.
A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit. Allegedly Greek, but more possibly fairly modern quote.
Consider helping by donating using the button in the upper left hand corner. Thank you.
That is a great version, thanks for sharing it!
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
A bit harsh but I cannot say that it is inaccurate.
I was going to delete as it is the same idea but from a different source and maybe it will sink in.
With the MIC lurking in the background.
Obviously this is not covered by the MSM.
Rafael Mariano Grossi serving as Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency keeps refusing to call a spade a spade.
Good afternoon, everybody!
Great OT, soe.
Will make sure I read and watch it all this evening.
I have to shop for my brother. He needs a new shirt for attending a funeral Monday. Around here, that means a new fishing shirt. yes, we are that hillbilly.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Luttwak
Thanks SOE for the OT. I found Pepe's article insightful, and the Luttwak video thought provoking.
The views below are mine alone, so fwiw:
Luttwak reveals a basic misunderstanding of East Asian culture and the Chinese "communist party." There are court politics and factions around the ostensible autocrat. There are the orthodox, and there are the pragmatic reformers. There is a traditional heritage predating communism, and the capitalist/technological adaptation. There are the advocates of meritocracy versus the corrupt. To imply incompetence is a major feature of Chinese culture is absurd at this point. This is a condescending racist caricature. Do policy makers make mistakes? Yes, sure they do. Do unethical and corrupt trends need to be sanctioned? Yes, always. The question is, will there be flexibility to modify policy? Is there sufficient institutional direction and consistency over time to reach goals and avoid incompetence and decay?
Luttwak's contention there is only Xi is simply false. It implies arbitrary and inflexible rule. This also ignores the role of overwhelming public support for Xi's policies. Luttwak's characterization of current Chinese ineptitude and inexperience when compared to the (modern) west is an old imperial stereotype which frankly many westerners can never shake, even if they study the language and culture. Why? Because credentialed experts can always find employment in a western capital espousing the favored views.
The characterization of Xi as some sort of incurably malevolent figure, is the unconscious Dr. No stereotype of mandarins with long fingernails which is exploited in the west's propaganda. This is the west's fear not Xi's fear. Xi's fear is a prudent one based on China's experience of western military aggression, subversion, and exploitation. The same sort of malevolent dictator stereotype is also applied to Putin. It's simply a propaganda device.
On the military power side, Luttwak makes several fundamental errors. One, he compares feudal and warlord China (of the colonial era) to post 1949 China. After 1949, the US suffered a great military defeat in northern Korea when it began to encroach on the Chinese strategic interest in North Korea, where there was a Chinese "red line" the US ignored. Even with the primitive state of development of the Chinese PLA at that point, the US could not drive them out of North Korea, nor back from what is now the current DMZ. As a result of this experience, MacArthur who, was not permitted to use nuclear weapons as he desired to settle the matter, took the view that only a madman would get involved in land war in Asia. He learned the hard way.
Contrary to Luttwak's assertions, during WWII, Japan could not eliminate communist armed forces and other opposition forces from the countryside in Northeast China nor in many other areas in mainland China including the interior. Chalmers Johnson documented this from Japanese Imperial Army archives not long after WWII. In fact, Japan only secured the cities in the areas under its occupation. This is a reflection of China's strategic depth and its nationalism. Comparing it to Mussolini's Italy is simply ridiculous.
Subsequently, the US lost the war in Vietnam. Another demonstration of western superiority? I noticed the host asked the obvious question what other military objectives might China have other than Taiwan. Luttwak was evasive, repeating himself stupidly unable to answer the question. It's interesting that Luttwak is proud of advising the Pentagon for decades. Remind me, when did they win a war since WWII? In Iraq? Libya? Afghanistan? These were imperial expeditions against third rate powers at best. When weighed against their massive costs to the US in so many dimensions, they all have to be viewed as failures. There is simply no comparison to a potential war with China. Nor the war in Ukraine, where NATO provides the support infrastructure, training, weapons, ISR, and in other less transparent ways, direction. How is that working out? Perhaps the relevant application to a potential war with China (beyond the Taiwan conflict which outcome Luttwak was leery of predicting) is that in Ukraine the western supported Ukrainian forces are unable to make a dent on Russian defenses. The greatest miscalculation by Luttwak is omitting the strong relationship between manufacturing capacity and throughput to the ability to conduct a strategic conflict. The limits of the US allied block in this respect was plainly exposed in Ukraine.
It's significant that Luttwak is proud of his association with Abe and the LDP right wing in Japan. The latter are historical revisionists who have influenced current US military views of Asia preponderantly. The few western analysts of Asian geopolitics who are rightly critical of US policy in the far east generally, make the incorrect assumption that it is the US that is forcing its neocon views of Asia, on Japan. This may be true in the popular sense, where a substantial number of Japanese are not on board. But in terms of political leadership in both capitals, it's more like an echo chamber or vicious cycle where hardline neo-con ideologues drive each other to take more and more aggressive stances against China. Both countries spend a lot of money supporting scholars, think tanks, and educational institutions to spread their very similar views of China internationally. People need to remind themselves that the imperial views of both Japan and US set the stage for WWII in the Pacific early in the 20th Century. The military conquest of Asia by the west and Japan began long before that.
I agree with Escobar's take on the political and economic situation where the US is losing ground. The US emphasis on the use of force and other disruptive tactics to resolve this sort of profound socio-economic-political decline, is just doubling down on demonstrably failed policies.
語必忠信 行必正直
Excellent comment.
I kept thinking this expert was a racist, an ignoramus, wrong in everything he said, and an advocate for murdering tyrants, which could be any leader anywhere in the world, according to his goofy definition.
Guess he doesn't understand the challenge to the dollar hegemony, is not up to speed on the weaponry of the Chinese military, and sees Mandarins in silk robes with long fingernails everywhere he looks.
He was wrong about Hitler's impetus for war in 1940. Guess he didn't get the memo about the reparations from WW1 came close to starving the German people.
I could rant on, but will stop there, check out more videos.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Thank you OTC
Appreciate the compliment.
I studied modern European history and read a few of Third Reich histories over the years. My favorite is Adam Tooze's Wages of Destruction, (I probably already mentioned that multiple times) which is oriented on the economic angle. They say WWII in Europe was just WWI continued.
語必忠信 行必正直
My relatives fought in both World Wars, Korea,
and I grew up hearing their stories. I started reading about modern European history, focusing on Germany, when I was 4 yrs old, kept it up through university, still occasionally pick up a book, read some more. I was lucky not only that my Dad was a history nut, but our next door neighbor and close friend was a German woman who had been recruited by Hitler into their Supreme Race program.
The stories she told!
She was then recruited into a program established by The Marshall Plan. Had a great job, came to the US to marry a local lawyer, be his secretary, type over 100 words a minute without a flaw.
Fun fact: Wagner was outlawed in opera in the US during and after the war. Her husband wouldn't allow her to play her opera records in their home. She brought them to our home, and we listened to them and enjoyed that Ride of The Valkyries.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
I do want to add that
I have traced or tracked Marco Polo's travels along the Silk Road through numerous countries.
I watched the video you brought to us, and it was superb.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Glad you like it
All the adult men I knew as a child had fought or were veterans in one or more of the conflicts you mentioned OTC. My family was Navy oriented in that respect, WWI grandfather, WWII in the Pacific my father. My friends fathers were all veterans. The person in my family who influenced me the most, was my uncle who was a history buff, and fought in the marine corps as a grunt in Bougainville. He had what they call a traumatic head injury and PTSD, from tunnel, cave and jungle fighting.
He was a text book salesman when he worked, he really didn't need to work, his family was very well off. So he gave me an illustrated history book to read as a gift almost every time he saw me as a child. I loved the man dearly. He and my aunt had eight children of their own. I spent a week with him and my cousins every summer until I was about 12 at his summer home in east hampton, which was really quite modest. He used to recreate battle scenes in his garage, like Waterloo, that were as good as some I saw at Gettysburg. He'd read the Charge of the Light Brigade to me. My father used to watch Victory at Sea, and Walter Cronkite's the 20th Century. I think I saw every episode.
I read Hotel Tacloban last week in a few hours, a POW story. And then just for the hell of it watched the movie Unbroken another POW story. Hotel Tacloban was the more authentic tale. I've had a significant amount of POW type training, knew a couple of Vietnam POWs in the military after the war was already over fairly well, etc. I'm familiar with the Hotel Hanoi accounts. The only reason I'm prompted to talk about this is because of Unbroken. Angela Jolie produced it. I mention this because after watching I saw somewhere on the web that she had some connection with the CIA. I suspect the film was a soft sell. I don't want to give any spoilers, it was authentic in some ways but I think the brutality of the Japanese was downplayed for political reasons. As in, "WWII, the Japanese, get over it."
Okay, I'm surprised Wikipedia covered this-
Yes this was exactly my impression of what had been omitted from the movie. Douglas Valentine describes all that in Hotel Tacloban, a tribute to his father who barely survived that hell on earth. I read two other very good history books concerning Asia by James Bradley who was the son of a Pacific War veteran who described Japanese beheading US prisoners of war right up until the very end of WWII. My perspective is very similar to his about what is going in Asia. He was the advisor to John Pilger in the Coming War with China.
I just listened to the representative of the Peace Mothers' Organization, Goeun Gwang-soon, speak at the candlelight demonstration in Seoul today in the pouring rain (on video). She described the estimated 60 million people Japan murdered during the Pacific War. She described Yoon Seok-yeol as Japan's gum tac ji, (sticks like gum, poodle, submissive pet) and "zombie farmhand." I don't think the Korean people should be forced to submit to an alliance with Japan. I think doubling Japan's defense budget is a terrible mistake. It's not really a mistake, it's a deliberate act, encouraged by the US. I learned just today, that Yoon unilaterally had agreed to purchase about 15 billion dollars worth of military weapons from the US without consulting or notifying anyone in the national assembly or public.
She asked the US to either negotiate peace with North Korea or get out.
I'm going to post this Jang Yoon-jeong song First Love, she sang live in a performance at Hanoi. I just found it. It's just a love song. She is best trot singer in Korea imo. I didn't have time to translate it yet although I understand every word, and I don't think it really needs a translation. I don't think those Vietnamese young people need a translation either. The international tour was cut short by the covid if I remember correctly. I think I watched every episode of this program for two seasons.
I really liked the tunes posted by everyone else in this thread. The oldies from the Vietnam era were some of my favorites.
語必忠信 行必正直
Korea's relationship with Japan
has obviously been fraught. That said, the relationship with China has hardly been free of conflict and coercion. Korea being forced to provide ships for the attempted invasions of Japan being just one example. Having Japan, the US and potentially Russia as a counter to undue Chinese influence seems reasonable for Korea.
As for Japan nationalists wishing to have their colonial and wartime abuses overlooked, it's worth remembering that this was greatly enabled by the US. Kishi Nobosuke (Abe's grandfather), for example, was toward the end of the war responsible for the empire's labor system, big parts of which were slave labor and had earlier been involved in various abuses in the administration of Manchuria.
Imprisoned with other Class-A war criminals in Sugamo Prison after the war, he was released without ever going to trial and went on to found (with CIA assistance) the still-ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
US also protected leaders of biological warfare Unit 731 - responsible for horrific abuses and pressured former POW's to remain silent about their treatment. Further, it's alleged that although the US knew that the Japan elite controlled huge amounts of looted treasure and stockpiles of strategic materials they misrepresented this to allies to minimize Japan's having to pay reparations.
Personally, I'm fine with Japan increasing its military capabilities, but not necessarily in the direction or way they are currently planning. For one thing, with everything increasingly networked, simply crashing those would ensure chaos whatever weapons Japan possessed.
What would be far more effective - not to mention cost-effective - would be an island nation version of Switzerland or Finland - but that would require shelters, decentralization and the arming and training of the populace - not something the elite would be at all comfortable with.
Armed neutrality (again, think Austria, Switzerland, until recently Finland, Sweden) would be a good way for Japan to go, but not without the 'armed' part being meaningful.
(Edit to add: Second the recommendation of James Bradley - have only read his Imperial Cruise but will try and check out more of his other work.)
It's up to South Koreans
...who they want to be allied with. Yoon is virtually a dictator at this point. Hopefully the jailing of his crooked mother in law, signals the beginning of his downfall. Yoon's a megalomaniac. He's also stupid and corrupt. I've known this for about three years. Some people have just realized this since April or May. The called tri-lateral alliance is extremely unstable. The people just do not like or trust the Japanese government, it's that simple. And they don't like what the Japanese are doing now or what Yoon is doing.
語必忠信 行必正直
"It's up to South Koreans ...
...who they want to be allied with."
I don't have a problem with that at all. I would even see that extended to include North Koreans, Chinese, Taiwanese, Japanese... what do your think?
As far as that goes, I wouldn't mind having some input into America's policies (fat chance of that).
"The (S. Korean) people just do not like or trust the Japanese government"
Well, plenty of Japanese people don't, either. But government decisions can affect them pretty directly. What, though, do the Korean people envision the Japanese government doing that would negatively impact S. Korea? And if what the current governments are pursuing is bad, what are the alternatives?
Well for starters
(Source YTN News - 9.3)
Interfering in South Korea's internal politics. Making a claim on Korean territory-Dokdo. Pouring contaminated Fukushima water in the sea. Propping up dictators in South Korea. Bribing South Korean politicians. Interfering in the judicial administration of South Korea. Obstructing the South's diplomatic initiatives toward the North. Flying the Japanese war flag. Treating Koreans with racist contempt. Threatening a war pre-emptively with North Korea with their new "counter strike" policy.
The alternative is what existed before the US succeeded in ramming Japan down S.Korea's throat again. Namely, South Korea deals with the US as it did before, except ROK retains control of their own armed forces at all times. US cleans up all environmental damage related to its current and past military bases. Any military dealings with Japan are indirectly achieved by the US-Japan alliance. No "doubling the size" of the Japanese military (abide by Art.9). No dictating by the US or anyone else about South Korea's dealings with Japan, China, Russia or North Korea. US returns to the Singapore agreement with North Korea. No South Korean participation in the Indo-Pacific Alliance. No participation in the Tri-lateral alliance or other alliance directed against China. No NATO participation. No THAAD. No extension of any existing military bases for anti-China operations or any other pretext. No military exercises in the buffer zones.
(Source- KBS 1 History Journal, ep. 199) This vision of a greater imperial Japan as depicted in the graphic was attributed to Yoshida Shoin in the mid 19th Century.
語必忠信 行必正直
One more thing...
My great uncle died in the March of Bataan.
I remember. Never to forget.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Yes, there were plenty
of atrocities committed by Japanese forces (and the govt. generally) during WWII and their colonial rule.
Then again, so did the US - although since we were doing it on an industrial scale (and had won) - that sort of got overlooked. Things like the Tokyo firebombing of March, 1945:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Tokyo_(10_March_1945)
If that weren't enough, the US cut deals with serious war criminals and basically let the same people back in charge as had been before the war. They also invented crimes, conducted kangaroo court proceedings and executed people that were politically inconvenient - most notably Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita. (In the process helping to establish a legal framework for the abuses of the GWOT)
Recommended reading: Dissent of Justice Frank Murphy (Justice Rutledge also dissented)
https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/327/1/
Yamashita was executed by hanging at Los Banos, Philippines Feb. 23, 1946.
Good morning soe. Thanks for the ot. Though there
are continuous developments and breakthroughs in chips and chip manufacturing technology, they are, all the same, a mature technology. The rule for any mature tech is that it will be exported to destinations with adequate infrastructure that have lower door-to-door full-absorption costs of production. It is rare that the US could remotely qualify as such.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Since this is a potluck --
I am bringing music.
“The loyal Left cannot act decisively. Their devotion to the system is a built-in kill switch limiting dissent.” - Richard Moser
Of course the US is the enemy
from the perspective of the CPC - the ideological principles on which the US was founded are anathema to them: government having its authority from, and being limited by the sovereign individuals of the society versus individuals being subject to the authority and direction of an entity (in this case the Communist Party of China) that will decide and dictate the direction society will take and what its members are permitted or required to do.
So, it is safer to maintain the US as enemy rather than risk ideological pollution by such concepts as individual liberty, unalienable rights and such.
Problem for the US is that many do not recognize that 'China' (Chinese government, that is) regards the US as an enemy and has been waging non-kinetic war against the US for decades now. Population dumbed down, drugged and unhealthy, politicians, bureaucrats, media compromised (up to and including 'The Big Guy'...) this is warfare conducted in the classic Sun Tzu tradition of whenever possible not fighting your adversary at their strongest, but wherever possible weakening them short of outright confrontation so that you either defeat them without fighting at all, or only do so when the outcome is assured to be in your favor.
And yes, China (as I have posted here before) is an historic and major threat to Russia - and the continued vilification and attacks by the US on Russia are counter to both US and Russian interests - but work favorably for China's. Ukraine, the US, EU, Japan, Australia and Russia (all actual or potential China adversaries) fighting over Ukraine weakens all of them - with minimal risk or expenditure of resources on China's part.
Of course, there are complications with achieving a negotiated end to the Ukraine conflict - one being biolabs and the USG and Biden connections to them:
Vivek breaks it down:
There is a chance it might rain tonight.
My yard is full of trees and shrubs that look like they do in October.
Something about this song is so lovely, above and beyond the singing. It is the idea that people of different races and cultures might blend if there is love:
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
SMH The leader of the free world. HAH!
He is in fine form.
Learned a new word
"Techtical.
Cool.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
After sleeping on it,
I surmised a bit more insanity in Luttrak's logic.
The US needs to get out of the Ukie war to free up Russia to protect themselves from being invaded and conquered by China. Scary.
At the same time, the US can take out the wussy Chinese with ease, as they never win.
Well, I am not a foreign policy expert, but I know a fool when I see one.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981