(B, if I may post an English translation of a “tagesschau” item, instead of just the link to the original? They don’t provide anything in English. Thought it might not be fair to just leave your readers with the German original.)
Regarding Ukraine and the West’s war on Russia, some barflies have wondered about the German stance, especially government-wise and MSM-wise.
Here’s what I’d like to offer, an item from today’s news by our number-one public broadcaster.
—
Sanctions the only way forward
In the Ukraine crisis, NATO is challenged like rarely before. Secretary General Stoltenberg’s proposal points in the right direction. And Germany? Should provide a more impactful contribution instead of helmets.
Commentary by Helga Schmidt, ARD studio Brussels
Twenty years ago, at the height of detente between East and West, NATO plunged into a crisis of identity. Why maintain the highly armed defense alliance? The issue was seriously debated as one Warsaw-Pact country after another joined NATO, leaving behind a weakened and self-absorbed Russia. Surrounded only by a few last satellites.
Democracy seemed to be on the rise, and unstoppably so, in the form of rule of law and market economy. And one day, even that didn’t seem at all illusory at the time, one day Russia might become a part of it all.
Today, twenty years on, NATO is challenged like rarely before in its history. There is a serious threat of war in Europe, and from what we hear from the military experts, it is a very real risk.
NATO invites Russia to talks
In this situation, the long-awaited response from NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to the Kremlin’s demands came yesterday evening. It’s a level-headed one. “We are ready to listen to Russia’s concerns and have a real discussion,” Stoltenberg said.
Putin might take this seriously if there were anything else on his radar besides conquering Ukraine. He could take up the offer of talks and negotiate with the West about a new security architecture in Europe. NATO invites Russia to do so and at the same time is unequivocal with a clear “No” when it comes to demands for withdrawal from Eastern Europe.
German arms deliveries would not change the picture
Putin himself knows best that this demand from his wish list was completely unrealistic. Now the question arises whether the “No” only provides him with the desired pretext for an attack. Nobody can say for sure at the moment – but it is relatively certain that potential German arms deliveries, which have just been the subject of heated debate, would change absolutely nothing.
Even the massive American military aid couldn’t change the picture for Ukraine. Arms worth more than $2.5 billion have gone there in just the last few years. The country’s security has not been improved by this in any significant way. Ukraine cannot stand up to the Russian army.
Serious economic sanctions expected
No one can seriously believe that German arms deliveries would change this imbalance. But what the partners rightly expect from the federal government is a clear commitment to serious economic sanctions.
Immediately aborting any commissioning of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is part of this – not just as a measure of last resort, as Chancellor Scholz admitted far too hesitantly. Because in an emergency, it’s too late. And a clear “Yes” to Russia’s expulsion from international payment transactions – even if that would hit the German economy more than any other country in Europe.
Germany will just have to pay this price, because a trade freeze is the weapon that would really hit Russia’s elites and Putin’s treasury. In contrast, 5000 helmets and a few rusty howitzers from NVA stocks would rather not.
—
Does this speak for itself?

Posted by: Scotch Bingeington | Jan 27 2022 9:56 utc | 104

Norwegian #96
YES Ubuntu is great. I had not heard of Kubuntu but use Mint or Cinnamon here. I will check that one out.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jan 27 2022 10:11 utc | 106

@Norwegian 88

He already did, this was his original post
The Coronavirus – No Need To Panic
More interestingly is why the need for panic after all

Last I checked, the narrative at MoA was that ‘vaccines’ and boosters are great and work. Perhaps I missed something. In which case, good.
The larger and more important (to the masters) game in town is coming to the fore. It is the fight over the monetary system whose meltdown is fast approaching https://tomluongo.me/2022/01/25/whos-afraid-of-jerome-powell/.
Europe is looking like it wants to become a fully-fledged commy territory. I guess everyone forgot what it was like in the USSR.
Still this insanity of COVID continues…and whaddayaknow we have a new bogey man, its ridiculous. Wuhan scientists again are making wild claims: https://www.rt.com/news/547487-new-coronavirus-strain-found/
I am now almost certain COVID is and always was a distraction, something everyone could agree on (because health is important, right). We fight the death shots while the masters bleed us dry. This is how it always was.
Ooops, we will be told, COVID is no longer scary, we can go ‘back’ to the New Normal: no money, no freedom, please show us you lovely certificate.

Posted by: Idiocrates | Jan 27 2022 10:28 utc | 108

@uncle tungsten 30

Whilst I appreciate Reiner Fuellmich has good intentions, I doubt he has good implementation.

Fair enough, but your doubts about implementation are still a mystery 🙂 Don’t get me wrong: I am no legal expert, far from it, but if you have valid points to make perhaps you should send them to Mr Fuellmich directly. Every little helps.
We all know about ‘good intentions’ and their worth. I am sure that this will be *precisely* the defense’s (if it comes to that) line used to justify the plandemic, death shots and everything else. They will say: we were following advice from experts and their and our intentions are good. Oh lord please don’t let me be misunderstood.

Posted by: Idiocrates | Jan 27 2022 10:53 utc | 110

English PM Boris Johnson confirms that UK troops could be sent to Estonia if Russia invades Ukraine, Johnson added that UK troops lead the Nato battle group in Estonia.
UK special forces are already in Ukraine training their troops, however Johnson claims UK troops will not be deployed in Ukraine if war breaks out.
The USA’s favourite minion is prepped and ready to go.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/pm-confirms-uk-troops-could-be-sent-to-estonia-if-russia-invades-ukraine/ar-AAT7VTU?ocid=uxbndlbing

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Jan 27 2022 11:00 utc | 112

@Republicofscotland 112

The USA’s favourite minion is prepped and ready to go.

who fucking cares about the Royal Army and what they could do? those that matter (read the Russians) do not and in theory everything is possible. And Estonia? Hahah please, lets be serious. Let’s see what BoJo does next to distract attention from the brown stuff he is deeply into…

Posted by: Idiocrates | Jan 27 2022 11:08 utc | 114

Chronicles of Democracy.
The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs conducts searches at the home of former American diplomat Mark Vogel, who turned out to be a drug courier, in his “Anglo-American school”.
It’s great. Sometimes American diplomats dress up as women, sometimes American diplomats steal railway signs, sometimes they turn out to be drug couriers…
High class diplomacy.

Posted by: alaff | Jan 27 2022 11:15 utc | 116

re Tom_Q_Collins | Jan 27 2022 7:51 utc | 97
I wasn’t gonna say anything more but I appear to have offended you which was not my intention. Yes there is a plandemic separate and irrelevant to the actual pandemic. Whatever point of view one has about the lethality, cause, efficacy of vaxes, there can be little doubt that people of all points of view are getting played. People on all sides of the argument. This is plain from the way discussion of covid has morphed into just the latest branch of the elite driven culture wars, with corporate media driving a certain point of view and established alternative media another, both regardless of scientific developments. The actual truth of the issue if anyone has worked that put yet, is irrelevant to either of these schools of urgers, keeping people divided is what they are getting paid to achieve.

Posted by: Debsisdead | Jan 27 2022 11:42 utc | 118

I dunno if this has been posted here recently but I’ve been using John Mersheimer’s 2015 lecture on what/why Ukraine in another forum today because it is particularly apt right now.
It goes without saying that I disagree with Mersheimer’s claim that amerikan democracy spreading is essentially benign, nevertheless he does accurately analyse the causes of this ‘crisis’ and who is at fault for being so damn stupid.
The interesting part is how little has changed in 7 years along with the blockheadedness of an amerika incapable of critically analysing any of their foreign policy.
If you haven’t seen this lately or ever before I strongly suggest a gander.

Posted by: Debsisdead | Jan 27 2022 12:00 utc | 120

Idiocrates @(114).
I’m not defending the UK the US or Nato, I’m well aware of who the aggressors are here, and of the 2014 coup in Ukraine, as well as Nato’s expansion East. I’m merely pointing out what the English PM says he’s going to do.
I’d have thought by my moniker, that you’d have guessed that I want to see the break up of the UK, specifically Scotland’s withdrawal from it.

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Jan 27 2022 12:17 utc | 122

Posted by: oldhippie | Jan 27 2022 12:00 utc | 121
Jeremy Steig, same list.

Posted by: waynorinorway | Jan 27 2022 12:25 utc | 124

Posted by: alaff | Jan 27 2022 11:15 utc | 116
Too bad there is not a way to upload screenshots, in that video of the Anglo-American School in Moscow it caught my eye in one of the classrooms a poster with a well picked up image of Fidel and a script in Spanish that says: “Fidel, Cuba does not love you, neither does Venezuela” ( 3:45). I wonder what has Fidel to do in an Anglo-American school in Moscow, they could’ve put a poster of let’s say Mark Twain, or Neil Armstrong, or John Lennon, but Fidel Castro? For things that matter there is no memory in the anglo crowd but boy oh boy, they never forget or forgive whomever stood up to their bullying.
PS. If anybody knows of a quick way to upload images, or a repository to be linked to I’ll be thankful for the tip.

Posted by: Paco | Jan 27 2022 12:28 utc | 126

@Republicofscotland 122
I was not attacking you, just merely being a bit explicit in the lingo. No offence meant.
FWIW I also support the breakup of the UK and Scotland’s departure from it. In any event, if Davos drowns the EU in bullshit and forces death shots upon it, I may have to dust off my UK passport and come back to ol’ blighty…but that is not something I would do willingly.
FYI: I spent part of my youth and student days in Manchester 🙂

Posted by: Idiocrates | Jan 27 2022 12:41 utc | 128

Its interesting to note that both France and Germany refused the UK the right to fly over its airspace on their way to deliver plane loads of weapons to Ukraine. Macron has already spoken of easing the pressure on Russia, and Germany would have much to lose (Russian gas) if it continued to pressurise Moscow.
One would think that already Moscow and Beijing are in full planning mode to counter the removal of SWIFT.
Is Russia’s redline aimed at Nato, a wake up call for the bullyboy club, that they cannot keep swaggering around the globe as gun for hire, and if Germany and France, the two big EU hitters cool on the plan to remove Putin, does that signal the end of Nato, and hopefully along with it the Atlanticists grip on Europe, I can only hope so, or we could be in for another lengthy cold war.
https://consortiumnews.com/2022/01/25/patrick-lawrence-russias-red-line/

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Jan 27 2022 12:53 utc | 130

Posted by: awaiting approval | Jan 27 2022 12:55 utc | 131
Thanks a lot, handy tool.
https://imgur.com/a/CmjRPjf
@OldHippie
Is that Nikki this Nicole? Sounds good
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rdson8DIdGs

Posted by: Paco | Jan 27 2022 13:09 utc | 132

@Idiocrates | Jan 27 2022 10:28 utc | 108
Look at the date pf that post (2020) and the kind of change that occurred.
It was a change in the wrong direction.
You didn’t miss anything that happened recently.

Posted by: Norwegian | Jan 27 2022 13:17 utc | 134

@Grishka | Jan 27 2022 12:47 utc | 129

Debian has KDE version, the Kubuntu is just a Ubuntu with KDE, better than that is KDE Neon, the problem, with Ubuntu and Ubuntu based distros , they are unstable,

Kubuntu 20.04 LTS that I use is super stable. But use whatever you prefer, that is the whole idea.

By the way you always claim the Norway and Sweden are two different countries, Kristiania was the Capital of Norway-Sweden , it is now called Oslow!

What kind of nonsense is this? You have it mostly wrong. After 1905, The union between Norway and Sweden was dissolved. Before and after that the capitals were separate, Stockholm in Sweden and Kristiania in Norway. Kristiania was renamed in 1924 to Oslo, not what you suggest.

Posted by: Norwegian | Jan 27 2022 13:36 utc | 136

Paco 132
Yes, that is her. Personally never heard her in that sort of world music mode, her range has always been huge.
Before she got the UCLA appointment used to see her very often. Usually AACM bop derived music. The de facto AACM big band would form at many gigs, she became the leader. Took a while for the guys to accept that a pale skinned young woman would be the one leading the band. She was always inside the music, always inventive, it went her way because she was just that good. Miss her. Tomeka Reid, on cello in that vid, is gaining prominence. Hamid on drums is becoming an elder and revered. The rest of the band not Chicago, dunno.

Posted by: oldhippie | Jan 27 2022 13:53 utc | 138

Forgive me for using Google Translator here, but my written English is just weak.
Because the topic came up and as an inmate in Germany and an active reader of the system media, I would like to describe my observation to those who are interested.
The media:
In the publicly funded media, similar to the BBC, basically the Pure Nato position is represented.
It also doesn’t matter if the nonsense has actually been refuted for a long time. It also doesn’t matter if the nonsense is simply illogical. The narrative is served.
The big private media are even worse.
Der Spiegel, a journalism institution 30 years ago, has become a single Pentagon/CIA/MI6 PR department.
Bild, the traditionally largest daily newspaper (much more 10 pages of lies, hate and shit) is Russophobic to such an extent that even the Guardian can learn a lesson, as they say in Germany.
The other publications (SZ, FAZ, Focus, Stern) put it a little prettier, but not differently.
When it comes to RU, CHN, IRN, you can market every stupid lie as a sure truth without consequences. Talk shows are always cast by the same people, everyone thinks they agree.
Intellectual group masturbation.
Sometimes it’s difficult to tell if the media drives politics or if it’s the other way around. Most likely a self-reinforcing loop.
In short: The average German lives in a matrix that has little to do with reality. On the one hand, politics contributes to this, on the other hand, it is caught in its own false narrative.

Posted by: Kartoschka | Jan 27 2022 14:07 utc | 140

@Eighthman #71
You said

Some sources say ASML is getting scared of China progress (as they should). Payback to the US and EU is going to be a b**ch once China gets those foundries flying past them.

My personal, direct experience is that the capability to produce chips at leading edge geometries is far more than just the actual foundry equipment. ASML, for example, is only one supplier of foundry equipment: photolithography.
The way a silicon wafer is processed to produce chips is that a series of planar operations is performed to form one layer, then the next layer is grown.
For each layer on the wafer, this process is performed many times: A layer of photoresist is put down, then the substance in question – whether metal for interconnect lines or doping for transistors or whatever is deposited. The photoresist is then etched away.
Photolithography is the equipment to do the removal of the photoresist.
But even that process isn’t straightforward. Even back in the early 2000s, the geometries were starting to get small enough that shapes put in photoresist would not result in sufficently correct shapes on silicon for the layer put down, because of the quantum nature of light. For much the same reason as the classic double slit experiment, light was blurring particularly around corners such that the resulting shape looked more like a blob than a corner. This is problematic because the processes are tuned to minimum width of metal – which are then often violated by these quantum effect caused mis-shapes. Hence the developed of OPC: optical proximity correction: the introduction into the layout – the physical representation of the design – modifications which enable the actual photoresist laid down to execute into the deposited layers, sufficient margin such that the final actual layer performs to minimum process requirements. I managed the Cadence/TSMC relationship when OPC was first introduced at TSMC, because of a company Cadence had acquired.
So back to ASML: they’re known primarily for not just lithography, but deep ultraviolet lithography because previous regular light lithography also becomes an issue as you get into low double digit/single digit nanometer processes. Or in other words, they’re a vital part of the production process but not the only one by any means.
But the above is just the physical production part of the foundry.
In reality, even if China re-creates ASML tech – will they be able to recreate the entire foundry value package?
As you can perhaps see from above – the interaction between a foundry, EDA and a customer isn’t so simple.
30 years ago, a customer could just give a foundry the layout and the chip would probably work just fine.
To create the layout, the foundry would provide its Spice deck (to enable the customer to run simulations of transistor and other device performance on their designed circuits), a DRC deck – design rules – to enable the customer to actually both implement their design into layout reality while meeting the requirements of the process, and an LVS deck – layout vs. schematic, basically a 2nd DRC type deck but which enabled a customer to verify that the physical layout would perform to the designed schematic.
When a customer handed off to the foundry, the foundry would run a DRC check; a fail meant the foundry would not make the chip – of if they did, they would take zero responsibility for functional failure.
Spice+DRC+LVS from foundry –> circuit design + layout –> foundry handoff.
However, even back in the early 2000s, the above wasn’t actually quite enough. You needed parasitic data, reliability data, etc etc.
By 45 nm, OPC was required.
All of these electrical and physical effects had to be incorporated into the EDA (electronic design automation) tools used to design chips. I’m sure there’s plenty more that’s been added since.
My point is: Can China replicate the support processes necessary for any customer to be able to successfully design into a new single digit nm foundry, even if they can produce the geometries? It isn’t just making LVS/DRC/Spice files anymore. Will the EDA companies support Chinese foundries? Or does China have to also recreate their own EDA tools?
As should be obvious from the above, the relationship between customer and foundry is far more intertwined than it used to be – and gets exponentially worse as the customer increases in size or pushes the process’ limits. I know this for a fact because as the EDA representative mediating between Cray and TSMC, for example, I was intimately involved in such processes.
I personally don’t see China being able to do this very quickly at all.
Nothing is impossible given enough money and time but short circuiting this is extremely difficult.
So let’s look at what China (or any other country) would need to do in order to ramp up a leading edge fab:
1) Construction: Siting, electricity, water, massive materials shipments in and out, HVAC, employees etc. 100% doable
2) Equipment: ASML, Applied Materials etc. Doable but those companies already employ some of the smartest and most experienced people from the entire world. Not so trivial to recreate, especially without significant time.
3) Process line tuning: SMIC has been doing this for years at far trailing edge geometries but had a lot of outside help. Presumably they’ve gotten better at it, so let’s say they can do it.
4) LVS/DRC/Spice/other deck production. This is rocket science at leading edge geometries and also requires a lot of experience and EDA as well as customer interaction.
I’ve been in shouting match meetings where TSMC and a customer were fighting over literally a minimum size square of metal. TSMC prohibited it because these were “unreliably manufacturable, more specifically the shape could not be reliably created hence the electrical performance could vary as much as 50%” even though they technically met the design rules (DRC above).
The customer didn’t care – they were creating analog circuits and just needed the blob to provide non-zero resistance so a 50% variance was fine.
I’ve also been in other meetings where customers pointed out to TSMC that their DRC or LVS or Spice decks were deficient in material ways.
Net net: it is highly speculative that any new leading edge China foundry is going to be able to replicate TSMC’s capabilities quickly.
I personally highly doubt it.
This isn’t to say China couldn’t create leading edge chips – they could do what AMD was doing back in the late 90s (where I worked): tuning the process/support setup even as the chips are being designed. Huawei, for example, is big enough that this could be economic. But AMD had a serious yield problem – we were getting 60% yield when Intel’s comparable processes were yielding 85%+; even disregarding Intel’s double digit fabs vs. AMD’s one, that is a serious business problem.
But it would be extremely difficult if the US government prohibits customer companies and/or EDA from doing business with this prospective China fab.
An EDA ban would cut them off from the tools outside customers use – this largely ends any possibility of outside customers for said fab except maybe Apple.
A customer ban would be more serious – even Apple would think about it before openly defying the US government.
The customer ban would also cut off this China foundry from the collective experience of the customer base – as I illustrated above, it matters a lot.
So in summary: China could probably relatively quickly produce leading edge chips if they are basically just building the foundries for Huawei or some similarly large scale customer. The yields and performance are likely to be sub-par vs. TSMC, but not really clear how much this matters from a top level business perspective. This would probably take 2-4 years if all of the equipment, supply, software etc were already in place. MUCH MUCH longer if not.
To re-create TSMC’s leading edge process capabilities as a fab – i.e. manufacturer for any/all customers around the world, this would take far, far longer even assuming the US doesn’t extend its ban-hammer.

Posted by: c1ue | Jan 27 2022 14:15 utc | 142

I have a headache. On a lighter note – Kosovo has the Clintons, Canada has Ryan Reynolds
Ryan Reynolds Way coming to Ottawa
https://twitter.com/CBCTheNational/status/1486677873633095682?s=20
News from Kosovo, just for entertainment
https://www.google.ca/search?q=kosovo+news&client=safari&hl=en-ca&prmd=nvsxi&source=lnms&tbm=nws&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjTjLzkj9L1AhXonGoFHRi2AI4Q_AUoAXoECAIQAQ&biw=667&bih=325&dpr=2

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Jan 27 2022 14:24 utc | 144

Agree that there is no requirement to use Apple or Microsoft OS’s
Posted by: c1ue | Jan 27 2022 14:27 utc | 144
—
Microsoft controls the root signing certificate required to authenticate any OS that runs on the ‘PC’ platform.

Posted by: too scents | Jan 27 2022 14:42 utc | 146

The good news(?): The Fed didn’t do what clearly some in the markets thought – they didn’t back off their inflation fighting stance.
“monetary policy will become significantly less accommodative”
[The Fed will] “move over time to a policy that is not accommodative”
“A significant threat to the labor market is high inflation”
This is good news though, because this is basically what they said in December.
The bad news:
[The Fed plans] “for significantly reducing” its balance sheet, and that in the longer run, it intends to shed its holdings of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) entirely. The Committee members voted unanimously for this plan.
The balance sheet reduction would take place “in a predictable manner”
This is new.
The real bad news: It is far from clear that the Fed’s present plan – rate hike in March followed by likely 2,3 more rate hikes – is going to have any effect whatsoever on inflation. Barring a 0.5% or 1%+ rate hike, 3 or 4 hikes will raise the interest rate 1% vs. the 7%-ish inflation going on now.
Recall Volcker raised interest rates to 20% peak in order to tame comparable inflation in the 1980s.
10%+ Fed prime rates dropped inflation in half (from 11%) in 1974 but that lasted only 2 years – after which kicked off the spiral that ended with the Volcker spike.
A comparable increase today vs. 1974 would require an increase in prime rate of 7.5%.
A comparable increase today vs. the Volcker spike would require an increase in prime rate of 13.75%
Oh, and of course 1973-1974 also saw an epic bear market: The Dow Jones Industrial average dropped 45%.

Posted by: c1ue | Jan 27 2022 14:58 utc | 148

@146 “Given Aus is planning to import LNG… exactly how is it going to export LNG???”
With their new nuclear submarines of course.

Posted by: dh | Jan 27 2022 15:05 utc | 150

Over at Saker auslander wrote a comment about Crimea:

Here’s what really happened
The coup d’eta in Kiev in ’13-early ’14, which my tax dollars (I still paid US taxes back then, I don’t now as all my business ain’t there anymore) paid 5 BILLIONS for, had one goal and one goal only, which was to make this huge village of Sevastopol the base for the American Black Sea Fleet, pure and simple.
American Navy and Marine officers were already in Sevastopol and in Feodosya on the south coast for several years and had mapped out where the US Black Sea Fleet HQ would be (at the west terminus of Ulitsiya Bogdanova, the main drag on North Side) and had actually started renovations on the two main schools, Gymnasium #5 and School #40, off Ulitsiya Simonok (Simonka).
The entire west end of North Side was to be Little America, going from Rahdio Gorka (Radio Hill) district on the north side of the harbor mouth all the way north to the village of Lubimovka along the main north/south road and all the way down to The Sea and the best beaches in this village.
All the locals were to be put out (including us).
School #5 (entirely different location from Gymnasium #5) at the west end of Bogdanova was to be the location of the actual HQ and the large Spetznaz Base next to it was to be flattened for additional buildings for HQ.

Posted by: Melaleuca | Jan 27 2022 15:10 utc | 152

Reply to 141: Thank you for your input. The details testify to how extremely difficult this technology is to build out.
Micron is leaving China ( DRAM) in part because they say China is poaching its people with higher salaries, stock options. They will buy or steal whatever is needed.
https://developingtelecoms.com/telecom-business/partner-spotlight/11567-china-gets-serious-about-microchips.html
We should witness solid progress on this front within this year, perhaps enough to make any sanctions irrelevant. China doesn’t have to dominate, just get by for now.

Posted by: Eighthman | Jan 27 2022 15:11 utc | 154

My point is: Can China replicate the support processes necessary for any customer to be able to successfully design into a new single digit nm foundry, even if they can produce the geometries? It isn’t just making LVS/DRC/Spice files anymore. Will the EDA companies support Chinese foundries? Or does China have to also recreate their own EDA tools?
China is already competent in the entire FAB chain…
China has a very deep pool of motivated high quality engineering talent.
SMIC is producing 7nm wafers in small batches…. NOW!
INDY

Posted by: George W Oprisko | Jan 27 2022 15:14 utc | 156

@too scents #145
Incorrect. Microsoft controls the root certificate to certify Windows on any PC platform.
They DO NOT control any certificate for PC hardware.
You can install Linux or whatever.

Posted by: c1ue | Jan 27 2022 15:32 utc | 158

@Eighthman #153
China has been poaching from TSMC and other companies for decades – this isn’t new.
For that matter, they recently got Chiang Shang Yi to work in SMIC. Shang Yi is a legend at TSMC.
The problem is still that the full semiconductor supply chain is highly intertwined, as I attempted to demonstrate above.
Stealing the people to make the fabs is still a far cry from replicating what a leading edge foundry does. Even uprooting the entire TSMC design support team (the guys who deal with customers and issue the DRC/LVS/spice etc) wouldn’t solve the problem because the data and processes would have to go with them too.
But as I said, we will see.

Posted by: c1ue | Jan 27 2022 15:36 utc | 160

@c1ue | Jan 27 2022 14:27 utc | 144

Agree that there is no requirement to use Apple or Microsoft OS’s, don’t agree there is no need.

This is decided by individuals. If you think there is a need, there is a need. But my main point is that Linux is just as capable as the two others, and in fact more so.

Linux has a lot of potential issues at scale. In particular, it is extremely subject to supply chain attacks because of its open source nature.

This I fundamentally disagree with. Open source means that every change in the code is reviewed by many people in a very formal process. So the chance of malicious attach is far less than in closed systems like Windows where no-one outside MS get to see the code changes. And NSA and the like can agree with MS to install some spyware withou anyone knowing. Therefore Windows is much more dangerous for end users.

The bigger problem is applications. I haven’t monkeyed with MS Office wannabe copies like Libra or whatever for quite some time, but they were just awful before and I doubt they encompass the cross-Office app functionality that even 2007 era MS Office had.

It is a strategy for MS to bind users to their applications, like MS Office so you have a harder time changing OS. I am deliberately not a proficient MS Office user (I hate Excel 🙂 ) and Run Libre Office on both Linux and Windows. To me, it does the job just fine, but I don’t use office applications much.
But in other areas there is just an enormous amount of applications available for Linux, most of them are excellent.

And yes, you can use Google’s online versions – which are pretty good – but at the price of giving Google anything and everything you put on them.

Indeed, that I would never consider for that exact reason.

All things considered, I’d recommend people just use what they have now rather than bother switching to some Linux based Windows or Apple OS projection.

Sure, if it works don’t fix it. But If you want to try, go ahead.

Posted by: Norwegian | Jan 27 2022 15:38 utc | 162

@too scents #158
You continue to confuse software and hardware.
Hardware is a motherboard and CPU.
The motherboards have NO internet facing software; bioses are generally burned into EPROMs.
The CPUs also have NO internet facing software. The newer ones do have hooks with a software program can access but the CPUs are Intel, not Microsoft.
You need a peripheral to supply access to the internet.
None of these hardware devices have ANYTHING to do with Microsoft.
For that matter, Microsoft OS resides on the hard drive, which itself is a peripheral on the motherboard. Erase the hard drive, no more Microsoft.

Posted by: c1ue | Jan 27 2022 15:42 utc | 164

Posted by: c1ue | Jan 27 2022 15:32 utc | 157
—
You have a number of naive fundamental misunderstandings about how things work.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preboot_Execution_Environment
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Management_Engine
http://i.blackhat.com/us-18/Thu-August-9/us-18-Domas-God-Mode-Unlocked-Hardware-Backdoors-In-x86-CPUs-wp.pdf
All trust on ‘PC’ platforms is subordinate to Microsoft.

Posted by: too scents | Jan 27 2022 16:02 utc | 166

@too scents #165
No, you are just too stupid for words.
The Pre-Boot Execution Environment is the BIOS I already referenced – and NONE of the bios companies are Microsoft.
The other 2 links are INTEL not MICROSOFT.
You clearly don’t seem to understand that these are 2 different companies.

Posted by: c1ue | Jan 27 2022 16:16 utc | 168

too scents is right.

Posted by: bjd | Jan 27 2022 16:21 utc | 170

Posted by: Jan | Jan 27 2022 0:28 utc
If you speak Russian, Jan, go to u-tube find Anatolij Sharij blog, outstanding, accurate and almost up to the hour.

Posted by: Baro | Jan 27 2022 16:40 utc | 172

DeFi = much scamming
Mark Cuban’s Crypto Lesson on Business Insider

Back when the token crashed, Cuban told Bloomberg he was “rugged,” a reference to a crypto scam called a rug pull, but added that it was his fault for “being lazy.”
…
A rug pull refers to a scam in which the makers of a token cash out their gains after launching the crypto project. As the market for cryptocurrencies has soared, so has the number of scams. Rug pulls, which are mainly related to DeFi tokens, cost investors nearly $3 billion in 2021, according to one estimate.

$3 billion seems too high – probably referencing the maximum “paper” gains affected or maybe the peak value of bitcoins or whatever converted to said DeFi scammer token.
But the actual number is probably pretty significant still.

Posted by: c1ue | Jan 27 2022 16:48 utc | 174

Baro 171, Shari is worth his weight in gold. Go to his site, sometimes English subs appear although it’s far from often. My wife listens to him every day and his breadth and insight is right up there. She of course tells me all.
Auslander

Posted by: Auslander | Jan 27 2022 17:00 utc | 176

Michael Hudson interview at Saker:
The Saker interviews Michael Hudson

Posted by: spudski | Jan 27 2022 17:10 utc | 178

For the first time since I began to follow this site, I could not post a link to an interview with a relevant economist, one who is often linked here.
Is there a list of sites which are banned here, for the purposes of posting links, that I should know about?

Posted by: spudski | Jan 27 2022 17:19 utc | 180

Apologies, my submission was posted. Must have been awaiting moderation – first time for that for me. Sorry!!

Posted by: spudski | Jan 27 2022 17:29 utc | 182

Debsisdead | Jan 27 2022 2:45 utc &. Tom_Q_Collins
There is a lot of truth to what you say, debsisdead —
1 that most people have taken a position about what to believe
2 that these opinions are based on incomplete or faulty information
3 that any further discussion should, if one is sincere about the betterment of ordinary peoples’ lives, consider first if one’s covid comments aid and abet the interests and power of the ruling elites (whichever ‘side’ they advocate) or not.
One problem is that your assessment automatically assumes decisions are being made solely based on emotion rather than logic because of the inferior information available. It is not an either or process imo.
If one has decided that this may be GOF 21st century viral pandemic (so there exist systemic unknowns), regardless of the endless media hysteria or endless Great Barrington media-related assurances, and if one has a cautious disposition, then skepticism and caution is a logical response, not a purely emotional response. (Although why cling to life so dearly?)
Similarly if one doesn’t care that the virus has moderate to high probability of originating from a lab escape, or believes it unlikely, and one has a less cautious disposition, then he or she will exhibit different behavior.
Both are logical positions for the individuals involved who have very different dispositions. While emotions can be ‘purified’ — that is, rid of delusions and illusions, they still remain intertwined with logic universe of cause and result.
~~
Some time ago james suggested having a covid thread. That would allow people to ask questions and receive some guidance and clarification without cluttering up the core threads. I did not respond earlier, not wanting to clutter the thread. But now that I am here doing just that,
I respond to Tom: Data is now available from CA and NY comparing the immunity status of people and their disease experiences from omicron.
Those
1 completely naive
2 the vaxxed x2
3 the vaxxed with booster
4 with natural immunity
5 with natural immunity and vaxxed
Are compared. The chart of hospitalization for these groups from both states are similar. The top line of the graph looks like a mountain and is of people with naive immunity, that is no previous exposure and no vaccination.
The other four lines run along the bottom of the graph, along the bottom of the mountain like a river, in relatively straight lines, in descending order but closely clustered, showing people with both natural immunity and vax have experienced the best protection against severe disease from omicron. Of course varies with individuals as well.

Posted by: suzan | Jan 27 2022 17:40 utc | 184

What the hell is going on on Mali:
https://www.workers.org/2022/01/61361/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=mali-mass-anti-imperialist-mobilizations-win-pan-african-solidarity

Posted by: Jan | Jan 27 2022 17:45 utc | 186

@187 Blinkers sees it as hitting the ball back into Putin’s court. Just a game really.
The short version is “US/NATO will do what it wants. The Europeans won’t complain. What are you going to do about it?”

Posted by: dh | Jan 27 2022 18:25 utc | 188

I have no idea how accurate this is but a map showing the Russ dialects in the current borders of Ukraine. Number 4 is the dialect the clowns have chosen as the official language as per the second link.
http://languagesoftheworld.info/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Map_of_Ukrainian_dialects_en.png
https://www.liquisearch.com/ukrainian_language/current_usage/dialects
Most pre 2014 language maps of Ukraine will look something like these.
https://newcoldwar.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Languages-of-Ukraine.png
http://quotulatiousness.ca/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Ukraine-language-map.jpg
What is called Ukrainian on those maps appears to be nothing more than a mishmash of Russ dialects that developed over centuries of Lithuanian/Polish/Austro-hungarian rule.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Polen_in_den_Grenzen_vor_1660.jpg

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jan 27 2022 19:02 utc | 190

Posted by: Kartoschka | Jan 27 2022 14:07 utc | 140:
In short: The average German lives in a matrix that has little to do with reality. On the one hand, politics contributes to this, on the other hand, it is caught in its own false narrative.
Thank you for this piece of revelation. I’ve always wondered why Germany, ostensibly a proud, smart, and intellectually independent nation, has been so submissive to the Empire in the last 2, 3 decades. You have exposed the insidious reason: Germans have been systematically brainwashed during this era.
Now I wonder if the same has not been true of the rest of Europe, especially what is known as western Europe.

Posted by: Oriental Voice | Jan 27 2022 19:09 utc | 192

@too scents #183
So in other words, you don’t know squat and reference someone else’s work.
UEFI secure boot is from 2012.
Prior to that, it did not exist.
UEFI secure boot simply locks down an existing Windows system from booting on other OS’s, if activated.
UEFI, even when new, did not actually prevent people from cracking the secure boot; there were bugs and workarounds, and even a leak of Microsoft keys in 2016.
The Microsoft antitrust trial was decided in 2001; this makes for an 11 year gap. Zero credibility to conspiracy theory.
But thank you for playing the FAIL game so well.

Posted by: c1ue | Jan 27 2022 19:17 utc | 194

John Cleary @193–
Now you know why I do what I do.
I wrote a long response regarding the issue of Donbass Genocide and appended the following to my article about Lavrov’s replies that appears above @187. IMO, that issue hasn’t been forgotten but remains within the overall issue of security as I explain. I will say the TASS item from last November I linked shows that Putin had already decided that Genocide was occurring in Donbass. Here’s my addition:
I reexamined the issue of Genocide in the Donbass since it again surfaced in discussion at MoA; and as noted above, Lavrov clearly stated, “We are prepared to reliably defend the interests and security of our country, as well as the security of our citizens,” to which I appended the fact that most Donbass residents took advantage of becoming Russian citizens when it was made available. The report given to Putin where he agrees that Genocide is happening in Donbass was made in early last December and is documented in an article I published. So far, that reality hasn’t been used publicly in the recent discussions with the West but can still be invoked since Donbass security is certainly compromised given its being subjected to Genocide. Aside from the initial press reports–one in November, which is important because the Genocide Convention was mentioned as being part of the reason for Putin’s edict, and then the December testimony, the link to which was omitted in my article and is paraphrased in the English version. The testimony also notes similar although not as severe abuse of Russian citizens in the Baltic states. So IMO, the question of Russia’s security now becomes the question of Russian Citizen security in the areas of the former Soviet Union and is a major reason why Russia will refrain from invading Ukraine or the Baltics because to do so escalates the threat to those citizens’s security.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jan 27 2022 19:32 utc | 196

karlof1
Don’t forget that the Russian state also sent formal complaints to the ECHR.
Surprise! The ECHR didn’t want to know. Too busy supporting the Yanks in their weaponisation of human rights I suppose.
They did the same to me back in 2004. And then, the proof of bad faith, they changed the rules so that I would never again be able to apply (from my isolated position).
If anybody from China is interested I can give them chapter and verse on the perfidy of the European Court of Human Rights.

Posted by: John Cleary | Jan 27 2022 19:54 utc | 198

I’ve been trying to pass around the Mearsheimer video too, but so far it doesn’t seem like anybody has watched it. I have noticed an increase in comments on the Hill (a “centrist” website that promotes a lot of war propaganda) disagreeing with and pushing back against the propaganda.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Jan 27 2022 20:20 utc | 200