“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.”
Pablo Picasso

The area of the Pacific Northwest I reside has two seasons Winter and Irrigation. Water begins arriving mid-April, generally ending mid-October, freezing happens at both ends of the season. My allocation is about 16 acres and it arrives every day to distribute on crops or landscaping.

Most of the water is used for grass fields for livestock grazing or growing winter feed. The irrigation system is being converted to accommodate future plans to expand the trees coverage into a silvopasture operation. A small orchard and expanding vegetable/flower beds use the remaining allocation.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Fqb6rT3AxU]

Started a new book this week, selected a subject far from the troubles brewing around China. Rome 1960 The Olympics That Changed the World by David Maraniss. (The joke is on me)

Rome saw the first doping scandal, the first commercially televised Summer Games, the first athlete paid for wearing a certain brand of shoes. Old-boy notions of Olympic amateurism were crumbling and could never be taken seriously again. In the heat of the cold war, the city teamed with spies and rumors of defections. Every move was judged for its propaganda value. East and West Germans competed as a unified team less than a year before the Berlin Wall. There was a dispute over the two Chinas. An independence movement was sweeping sub-Saharan Africa, with fourteen nations in the process of being born. There was increasing pressure to provide equal rights for blacks and women as they emerged from generations of discrimination.

The rest of the world must be getting tired of the United States using Taiwan as a tool to force compliance with US policies.

What China’s Taiwan white paper is saying Asia Times Aug 18, 2022

First of all, the paper reiterates that Taiwan is part of China, that reunification is inevitable, that the way reunification will take place is a matter between Taiwan and the mainland, and that Beijing will brook no outside interference. This is a re-statement of the red line about Taiwan that has never changed but is now stated in no uncertain terms.

Second, the white paper reviewed Taiwan’s place throughout the history of China. The terms of Japan’s unconditional surrender at the end of World War II mandated the return of Taiwan to China after 50 years of Japanese occupation.

At present, 181 countries including the US recognize the PRC as the legal government of China and that Taiwan is part of one China.
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Winding through Congress is the Taiwan Policy Act of 2022, which according to its sponsors will promote the security of Taiwan, ensures regional stability and threatens China with broad economic sanctions. But the consequences of Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan showed that such an act will do just the opposite: The island will become less secure and the region less stable.

As we have also seen from the Ukraine war, the US sanctions imposed on Russia backfired badly, causing worldwide food shortages, rising energy prices and overall inflation, and solidified the ruble’s place among the world’s major currencies. Any attempted sanctions on China would inflict blows to the US economy many times more serious than the sanctions on Russia.

English version of The White Paper

China’s drills to change US military assumptions Asia Times Aug 18, 2022

Chinese and foreign media have recently reported that the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a heavyweight think tank in the United States, has conducted scenario planning looking toward war in the Taiwan Strait.

Participants included former senior military officers, senior government military and political experts and fellows from think tanks such as the RAND Corporation and the Center for New American Security (CNAS).
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The scenario planning will run until September, with a final report scheduled for December. So far, 18 of the 22 rounds of possible attacks have been carried out.
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Assumptions:

1. The main attack of the PLA comes from amphibious landings.
2. It is difficult for the PLA troops to achieve landings.
3. The US military can use Japanese bases.
4. Neither China nor the US will use nuclear weapons.
5. The number of weapons and forces in 2026 is estimated based on publicly available information.

Basic conclusions:

1. No matter how the war begins, it ends up being a protracted war between China and the US.
2. The PLA must deploy all its troops. If it only deploys those in the Eastern Theater Command, it will be defeated in the first round.
3. Both sides have less to worry about when no nuclear weapons will be used.
4. Whether the Marine Littoral Regiment (MLR) will participate has a great impact on the result of the war. It cannot stop the PLA from landing on Taiwan but can prevent the Chinese troops from occupying the entire island.

Main conclusions:

1. The PLA will not be ready for a war by 2027, but maybe in 2030-2035.
2. America can only hope for a pyrrhic victory, but will be unable to overcome some other crisis after the war.

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In many scenarios, the US lost two aircraft carriers. They were the most powerful forces that could arrive in the Taiwan Strait within a short time but they were not able to stop the PLA from landing Taiwan. They could not even protect themselves.

Neither combat aircraft nor surface fleet proved useful. The scenarios showed the insufficient supply to US naval and air forces. The locations of bases, the numbers of flights and the flight ranges of aircraft were limiting factors.
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The CSIS exercise has not yet calculated the economic impact and casualties of the war.

The two aircraft carriers have at least 10,000 officers and soldiers while there are 10,000 on other ships. Several thousand infantry soldiers and pilots will die. This is an intense burst of casualties not seen since World War II.

Part of the US strategy is other countries in the area will support US military and Taiwan forces. Doubts are now appearing in the public space.

A sad reality of Pelosi’s visit: South Korea won’t help defend Taiwan The Hill Aug 9, 2022

No easy middle way for Japan on Taiwan Asia Times Aug 18, 2022

But it is far from clear what role Japanese troops would play, not just in combat, but even in assisting the Americans – with approvals to base operations from Japanese soil or even with logistics, medical and other backup support.

Though a 2014 revision to Japan’s US-penned Pacifist Constitution enables the “collective defense” support of allies if they are attacked, Taiwan was only mentioned in Japan’s Defense White Paper for the first time in 2021.

Some hopeful news regarding forever chemicals. It is a beginning, need better waste management processes to capture and treat products coated in the chemicals.

Scientists Discover Easy Way to Destroy ‘Forever Chemicals’ Sputnik News 8-20-2022

Scientists have discovered an "Achilles heel" in two popular classes of PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances). A simple and affordable method helps to decompose these substances, known as “forever chemicals”, into safe components.
Chemists from Northwestern University have developed a new decomposition method for two classes of PFAS containing carboxylic acid. The technology works at normal temperatures and requires only inexpensive reagents.
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PFAS is a class of chemicals with very strong fluorocarbon bonds. They are often called "forever chemicals" because they are extremely difficult to destroy. Bacteria can't eat them, fire can't incinerate them, and water doesn't dilute them. Since the 1940s, these substances have been actively used as non-stick and waterproofing agents.

For the next few weeks until the end of irrigation and harvest season my time and energy is limited. Dialog in the comment section is up to C99 members - have fun.

What is on your mind today?