Exclusions And Sanctions Help 'Enemies' To Build Their Own Capabilities
The hostile behavior the 'west' is showing towards China and Russia has consequences.
The International Space Station is losing the Russian modules it needs to maneuver. The U.S. will immediately have to build new propulsion modules if it wants to save it.
bigger
Russia to withdraw from International Space Station after 2024
Russia has said it will withdraw from the International Space Station (ISS) after 2024 to focus on building its own orbital outpost.Yuri Borisov, who was appointed to lead the state-controlled space corporation Roscosmos earlier this month, said during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin that Russia would fulfil its obligations to other partners before it leaves the project.
Mr Borisov said "the decision to leave the station after 2024 has been made."
The U.S. had planned to operate the station until 2031:
Earlier this year NASA published plans for the ISS which could see the 444,615kg structure taken out of orbit in January 2031 and crashed into a "spacecraft cemetery".It said the laboratory would continue operating until 2030 but its long-term future is unsustainable.
The end date will now likely be earlier than NASA had planned. As an earlier report explained:
Russia provides the propellant and thrusters needed to periodically reboost the station, a critical capability NASA cannot currently replace. Maneuvering is provided by thrusters built into the Russian Zarya and Zvezda modules and aboard visiting Progress supply ships.A Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo ship that arrived earlier this week is the first U.S. vehicle after the space shuttle to be capable of reboost, but it cannot on its own replace the Russian capability.
...
NASA astronauts are not trained to operate Russian systems and vice versa for the cosmonauts. Neither side can safely operate the lab on its own.
Without the Russians thruster modules the station will continuously slow down and sink towards earth until it breaks up and burns in the atmosphere.
For the U.S. to build its own thruster modules would very likely take more than two years. They would probably arrive too late to rescue the station.
Russia has plans to build a new space station. An alternative for it may be to hook up with the Chinese space station which was launched last year. Yesterday it received its second large module, a laboratory. A third large module will be added later this year.
China build its own space station because the U.S. had excluded it from participating in the ISS:
China has been barred from the ISS since 2011, when Congress passed a law prohibiting official American contact with the Chinese space program due to concerns about national security. “National security,” of course, is the lingua franca excuse for any country to do anything it jolly well wants to do even if it has nothing to do with, you know, the security of the nation. But never mind.
Just 11 years after the ban China has launched and operates its own space station.
It is likely that from 2025 on there will again be only one international space station. But it will be operated by China and probably Russia while the U.S. and its allies will likely be excluded from it.
This is the consequence of the U.S. hostile behavior which excludes and sanctions others for unserious reason.
The U.S. had pushed the Dutch government to prohibit the delivery of ASML machines to China that are needed to make the 4-7 nanometer structures of today's most advanced computer chips. Two weeks ago the U.S. started a push to prohibit ASML from delivering even its older models to China.
But a U.S. Canadian company recently found out that China' SMIC is already mass producing 7 nm chips. That capability had not been announced:
"This is the most advanced technology product TechInsights has seen from SMIC so far and may be leading to a true 7nm process that incorporates scaled logic and memory bitcells," TechInsights said.
...
Chip world watcher Dylan Patel noted another implication for SMIC's 7nm capabilities. He said the development means China is now further ahead than the US or Europe in having 7nm contract chip manufacturing capabilities since American chipmaker Intel has yet to make its 7nm process available to foundry customers.
China is also building more chip factories than anyone else:
China is leading the world in building new chip factories, a step toward achieving more self-sufficiency in semiconductors that could eventually make some buyers reliant on China for many of the basic chips now in short supply.As chip makers race worldwide to boost production and ease supply shortages, no country is expanding faster than China, which is slated to build 31 major semiconductor factories, known as fabs, during the four years through 2024, according to the chip-industry group SEMI.
Up to now China had imported $300 billion of chips per year. When all of China's new fabs are ready most of that money will stay in China. Chip producers in Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and the U.S. will have to seek new customers or lower their own output.
The space stations and the chip sanctions only demonstrates the inevitable consequences of being hostile towards large countries like Russia and China.
They have enough alternatives to substitute sanctioned products and to eventually develop their own production capabilities.
All this while the U.S. and its allies lose market shares.
Posted by b on July 26, 2022 at 14:53 UTC | Permalink
next page »thanks b...
using the label "national security" has been an effective tool for a lot of things, but not for getting people to work together on the planet..... at this point ''national security'' may as well mean ''paranoia''... thus we see a move towards total control over everything - totalitarianism... and as @ too scents notes, the copyright and patent laws are more of the same here - block the sharing, and do the opposite... i don't follow the space program stuff.... not sure what the end goal is in all of it..
Posted by: james | Jul 26 2022 15:15 utc | 2
It's ok. Liz Truss will ride to the rescue once she can tell the difference between Baltic/Black Sea and low Earth orbit.
Posted by: Merkin Scot | Jul 26 2022 15:29 utc | 3
Musk will be given whatever he needs to save the ISS. As soon as he stops humping every woman who crosses his path.
China obliterated the chip monopoly-trust. The Eurasian nations that need chips will get them from China. No sanctions will affect that outcome.
The US is playing in a league it cannot compete. Game Over.
Posted by: Red Ryder | Jul 26 2022 15:38 utc | 4
Musk will be given whatever he needs to save the ISS. As soon as he stops humping every woman who crosses his path.
China obliterated the chip monopoly-trust. The Eurasian nations that need chips will get them from China. No sanctions will affect that outcome.
The US is playing in a league it cannot compete. Game Over.
Posted by: Red Ryder | Jul 26 2022 15:38 utc | 5
The US's position of technological superiority is going to be quickly (on an historical scale) eroded if Russia and the People's Republic of China cooperate and share technological secrets. This seems like a step in that direction. Maybe I'm being too hopeful, after all, so far SMIC is only advertising their 7nm chips as being used for shitcoin mining.
Still, China is making leaps that were not supposed to be possible even one year ago. At the level of public technology, that which is enjoyed by the broad masses in their everyday lives, where does the US shine? Our roads are falling apart, our train system doesn't go above 150 mph (and only one route goes that fast), and even the Chinese have access to 5nm chips at the consumer level because TSMC sells to Huawei. Long covid, and the effect it has on intelligence in particular, is another sort of "brain drain" that will affect US innovation for decades to come (maybe centuries - the US's ruling class has shown callous indifference to the fact that 1/3 to 1/2 of its working class is going to develop "long covid" and have their work rate negatively impacted thereby).
Posted by: fnord | Jul 26 2022 15:43 utc | 6
China's new 7nm technology will probably lead in a few years to the mass production of general purpose CPU chips based on the open-source RISC-V architecture - which cannot easily be made subject to western intellectual property laws or sanctions. So they should eventually start to replace the ARM chips that dominate the smartphone market and those from Intel and AMD that are found in most PCs, notebooks and servers. That's good news for Russia which would be a major customer for the Chinese CPUs.
Posted by: Brendan | Jul 26 2022 15:45 utc | 7
Posted by: fnord | Jul 26 2022 15:43 utc | 6
Where did you find that 1/3 to 1/2 will get long covid?
Posted by: alek_a | Jul 26 2022 15:48 utc | 8
...push to prohibit ASML from delivering even its older models to China...
Knowing the flat panel industry quite well, I observed that the transfer of technology/hardware in Asia was for decades from Japan (Gen n) to Taiwan (and S-Korea) (Gen n-1) to mainland China (Gen n-2). This obviously has ended. One reason for China to treat Taiwan with velvet gloves has disappeared. Same holds for the positve influence for Taiwanese willingness to invest in the next generation hardware. China won't buy their old lines anymore. Innovation may slow down. Hong Kong and Shenzhen are another pair subject to such mechanism. The PRC simply does'nt need input from them anymore. - I envision a time when both start begging "to be taken home to the motherland without discrimination".
Posted by: OttoE | Jul 26 2022 15:49 utc | 9
China's capability for domestic DUV lithography tool is already out there and growing, in the stage of commercialization. At the moment, Shanghai Microelectronics is reportedly shipping to customers their 28nm DUV tool, having skipped all the intermediate steps between 90nm and 28nm. That technology is in principle capable of 7nm process, just like the ASML versions which was presumably used by SMIC to produce the 7nm commercial product in 2021.
Development of Chinese domestic EUV (the 2-5nm generation) seems like a story for the rest of this decade, with the tech pipeline at R&D-level already cooking for some time, and reportedly shifting to integration of major subsystems - although english language news about this seems spotty. This will also feed the development of the high end DUV systems, which make are used to do the bulk of the world's chip fabrication today.
I'd point out that there is a well-fed industry of naysayers spread out through the entire Western tech press, who year after year say how insurmountable is the lead of this or that tech champion... I think it'll continue to do what it has done, which is shrink faster than predicted by those with a financial stake in the outcome. In this case, ASML and their intimately connected suppliers will be protected for a while by their patent portfolio on the current leading generation of manufacturing tech. The following generation, I'm guessing, will go the way that 5G/6G went, with China becoming a top-2 player.
Posted by: ptb | Jul 26 2022 15:51 utc | 10
@ Posted by: alek_a | Jul 26 2022 15:48 utc | 8
I pulled it out of thin air based on what I remember to be estimates of the probability of developing long covid after one or more infections, with the assumption that the US ruling class is right that everyone will eventually get infected at least once. 1/3 seems like a reasonable estimate. Maybe 1/2 is doomsday-saying.
Still, this whole pandemic I have been amazed at the alacrity which the ruling class - the bourgeoisie, the business owners and shareholders- pushed against any kind of pandemic management policy besides "we'll just live with it," in total contrast to the Marxist-Leninist governments of the world who have taken lockdowns to the micro-level (neighborhoods, apartment buildings) and pushed their biomedical industries toward developing effective, cheap, vaccines and treatments (e.g. what has been accomplished by the Cuban medical system - alongside the surveillance imposed on the population by that medical system).
Posted by: fnord | Jul 26 2022 15:55 utc | 11
@ too scents | Jul 26 2022 15:02 utc | 1
Yes, down with patents and copyrights, which are immoral, unethical, and illegitimate, as is the concept of "intellectual property." There was never such a thing, at least not to any extent, and certainly not as a rent-extracting opportunity, in pre-capitalist history. While it is argued that inventors would then be deprived of the fruits of their inventions, I would reply that they are already routinely deprived of them anyway, as in the case of Nicola Tesla, and in any case corporate plunderers have no right to set them up as rent extraction opportunities or toll booths. While I would favor abolishing all patenting root and branch, not even allow corporations to patent their logos, there is a more moderate proposal that would allow inventors and authors to patent their own creations on condition that such patents lapse with the death of the holder and be forever non-inheritable, non-salable, and non-transferable. But corporations or the rich might be able to use that loophole to continue the patent system, so complete abolition would be better.
Posted by: Cabe | Jul 26 2022 16:00 utc | 12
@fnord #6 ...develop "long covid" and have their work rate negatively impacted thereby
You quantify the incidence rate (1/3-1/2) but don't tell the quality / amount of average efficiency loss. Do you talk about lost working hours (sick days), or loss of mental ability due to brain effects (similar to efficiency loss due to CO2, a.k.a. sleepiness, in overcrowded rooms)? A link to a serious explanation is appreciated.
Posted by: OttoE | Jul 26 2022 16:04 utc | 13
Thanks for the needed update on China's tech advances, b! They don't get the proper attention from comments alone. And there's lots of action happening in Asia, some of which I linked to yesterday on the week in review thread. Today, we're treated to this update, "Officials from China, ASEAN vow to build S.China Sea into sea of peace, friendship and cooperation at symposium marking 20th anniv. of DOC signing":
Officials from China and ASEAN countries hailed the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) as an important landmark document that has played a huge role in maintaining peace and stability in the South China Sea over the past 20 years at the symposium commemorating the 20th anniversary of the signing of the DOC held in Beijing on Monday.They agreed that China and ASEAN members should focus on cooperation, continue to follow the dual-track approach in dealing with the South China Sea issue, and look forward to the early conclusion of a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (COC).
The workshop was jointly organized by the Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs with the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the China Institute of Boundary and Ocean Studies (CIBOS) with the Wuhan University, as well as the National Institute for South China Sea Studies (NISCSS).
In his opening speech commemorating the 20th anniversary of the signing of the DOC via video link, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi called on countries in the region to maintain their position in solving the South China Sea issue.
Wang slammed some major countries for continuously increasing their involvement in the South China Sea region to maintain their hegemony, deliberately escalating tensions and provoking confrontations, and jeopardizing the legitimate rights and interests of littoral states and normal maritime order, calling on China and ASEAN members to make their attitude clear: If you come for peace and cooperation, we welcome you. If you come here to make trouble or cause damage, please leave!
"20 years ago, we seized the historic opportunity to embark on dialogue and cooperation on the South China Sea issue. Under the new historical conditions, we should keep in mind our original aspiration, continue to unswervingly maintain the purposes and principles of the DOC and implement the norms and propositions of the DOC, continue to hold the initiative and dominance in resolving the South China Sea issue in the hands of our regional countries, and truly make the South China Sea a sea of peace, friendship and cooperation," Wang said.
Wang stressed that China and ASEAN members should uphold the bottom line for peace. The South China Sea is not a "hunting park" for countries outside the region, still less should it become an "arena" for the game between major powers. Any words and deeds that create tension and provoke confrontation in the region should be firmly opposed. [My Emphasis]
The article makes clear that China's exhortations are shared by ASEAN members and that their solidarity on this issue is a huge rebuff to the Outlaw US Empire's attempts to divide and rule. The next major Asian diplomatic event will be the SCO's Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Tashkent, Uzbekistan from July 28-29. More info about that meeting and China's involvement can be read here. The main SCO Summit will be held in Samarkand September 15-16.
@ Posted by: OttoE | Jul 26 2022 16:04 utc | 13
I'm admittedly working with intuition and crude ideas here, so take what I'm saying with a grain of salt. AFAIK no one has estimated using known/observed quantities what the impact of long haul covid will be on the US economy or on "innovation" which is already a kind of nebulous concept. But just using a little deduction and intuition from things we know to be true, i.e.:
1) There is a probability of long-lasting symptoms emerging after covid-19 infection
2) One of the most common symptoms is effectively minor intellectual disability ("brain fog")
3) The US has given up on managing the pandemic and its government has said everyone will get it at least once
I can surmise pretty confidently that this will have a negative impact on the US workforce and on innovation. Whether or not it will have a catastrophic impact, I don't know, but it's not something China is going to deal with on the scale that we will here.
Posted by: fnord | Jul 26 2022 16:11 utc | 15
So joe b. plan of BBB is working but only for Russia, China, and other BRIC.
Posted by: jo6pac | Jul 26 2022 16:13 utc | 16
I supposed International Space Station (ISS) is better for marketing than Low Earth Orbit Research Project.
Posted by: Opport Knocks | Jul 26 2022 16:14 utc | 17
Pretty soon Russia and China won't need anything from "the west".
Europe is chosing the wrong side. The US and UK are the losing side.
Wake up Germany. You're going to go down with them!
Posted by: Dave Pollard | Jul 26 2022 16:14 utc | 18
@ too scents | Jul 26 2022 15:02 utc | 1
Posted by: Cabe | Jul 26 2022 16:00 utc | 12
You are both too harsh on patents, copyrights and other intellectual property. A better solution would be for patents to expire after a defined period of time and for financial compensation agreements to decline over the period they are active.
A "common good" patent for something like a drug might only last 3-5 years, whereas rights to books or music might end with the death of the creator.
Posted by: Opport Knocks | Jul 26 2022 16:21 utc | 19
The chairman of ASML has already years ago told Trump that sanctioning the Chinese will backfire - and sure enough, less than 4 years later, probably much sooner then even ASML feared, that premonition has hit home.
Posted by: Peter Camenzind | Jul 26 2022 16:24 utc | 20
@Opport Knocks | Jul 26 2022 16:21 utc | 19
---
You failed to make any argument in favor of patent or copyright.
In reality they are an externalized cost suffered by society.
Posted by: too scents | Jul 26 2022 16:25 utc | 21
All this while the U.S. and its allies lose market shares.
Which is why a US economic war on China is actually in the US interest long term. It needs to build up it's manufacturing abilities again. The industrial and economic relationship between China and the US has begun to flip and now it's the US who benefits from being forced to build it's own abilities, crowing that the West is becoming dependent on China is just another argument for exactly cutting itself off. China, of course, wasn't forced to build up it's capabilities industrially so much as the government understood it needed to trap the capital and industrial capacity from US companies hunting for cheap labour thinking when they'd exhausted it in China they'd just move on again but China acted like Japan, Taiwan and Korea before it and built up protected industries from the Western investments.
This is the part that can only be explained by antisocial ideology. The neocons want the US to be the most powerful country in the world because they want it to always be there to bail out Israel or support it's aggression and expansion. But the same outsider ethnocentrism that fuels that also fuels their broad support for neoliberal policies that hurt working class 'core' Americans whom they hate and fear. So they simultaneously supported the deindustrialisation of the US (And the former Warsaw Pact countries, particularly Russia, Belarus and Ukraine when they got their hands on them.) and expanded it's imperialism. Something had to give but they can't accept it.
They need a strong protectionist economy at home to fight their enemies without but a broken deindustrialised one to hurt their enemies at home. They tried to have both. And that has led them to start a reckless proxy war against Russia in 'revenge' for their counter intervention in Syria while waking the sleeping giant of China (Whom they supported building up through autistic libertarian economics) and pushing Russia into China's arms to create a foe that the US isn't capable of defeating. Even worse they gave the game away in terms of every tool and weapon of economic coercion that exists for the West and showing that even much weaker Russia has been able to weather with only 8 years notice and far lower expectations of what awaited it. China will now act as if it is in the prelude to war with the West since Russia's nukes couldn't deter this crazy proxy war and insulate itself economically and seek the global South's help to build it's new parallel order.
What's crazy is outside a few people capable of thinking for themselves, left to exist on the fringes of the media, nobody is even talking about this. The West just assumes that has all the cards. But Western countries have had every source of social and political solidarity ripped from them by neoliberal policies and their democracies have become utterly corrupted. They will be trounced by coherent authoritarian states that invest in themselves and which operate under real economic theory and not academically-laundered apologia for rentierism and parasitism.
Posted by: Altai | Jul 26 2022 16:25 utc | 22
I must admire the rhetorical beauty displayed within today's Global Times editorial, "Let’s hope US diplomacy doesn’t end up as chewing gum on the bottom of China’s shoes". Initially reporting about the growing relationship with Indonesia and President Joko Widodo's visit to China, the writer then shifts and displays what is clearly Asian wit:
We noticed that the timing of the rhetoric of Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, about China being "aggressive" in Indonesia, just a day before Widodo departed for his visit to China, is clearly not a coincidence. In a bluntly provocative meeting with Indonesian military officials on Sunday, Milley said he wanted to cooperate with the Indonesian military to "meet whatever challenge China poses." He also claimed that the Chinese military has become significantly more aggressive and dangerous over the past five years.Milley's purpose is too obvious, which undoubtedly is to provoke the relationship between China and Indonesia and to spoil the atmosphere of President Widodo's visit to China. But such malice toward China is equally extremely disrespectful to Indonesia. It denies Jakarta's pragmatic approach to China, and even its independent and autonomous diplomatic capabilities. Milley is close to directly telling Indonesia: "China is bad, don't play with it." But won't Indonesia itself be able to distinguish between good and bad? At the Shangri-La Dialogue last month, Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto had just urged countries to respect China's "rightful rise back to its position as a great civilization."
In fact, such "coincidences" do not take place only in Indonesia. In recent years, many major diplomatic activities initiated or advocated by China have become targets for the US to sabotage and undermine. For example, seeing that the relations between China and the South Pacific island countries are developing well, Washington immediately re-recognized the "special value" of the South Pacific island countries as if it had discovered a new continent. When China and African countries jointly proposed the establishment of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, Washington cast covetous eyes at it and is now set to hold a US-Africa summit. In terms of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which is in full swing, Washington is acting as if it encountered a big enemy, and has launched several alternative plans, in a bid to replace the BRI.
Today, in the name of providing regional countries with "an alternative to China," the US is actually attempting to weaken or sever their already close ties with China in a forceful manner, undermining regional peace and stability. For the US, this is not only disgraceful, but also a dangerous degradation of national power. Once US diplomacy has been reduced to a piece of chewing gum stuck to the sole of China's diplomatic shoes, where will one be able to see the "global leadership" that the US has always been proud of? While paying close attention to China, the US has gradually lost itself, and then lost its vision, mind and creativity as a major country.
That last paragraph is magnificent, its rhetorical arrow piercing the bullseye. China's "development diplomacy" is thrashing the Outlaw US Empire's coercive diplomacy as nations want peace and development, not the wars and chaos the Outlaw US Empire wants to provide, which is its track record since WW2 that it continues along as Ukraine proves. China on now countless occasions has held up a mirror for the Empire to see itself in so it understands it must change its ways, but it stubbornly refuses to open its eyes and look while further tightening its blinders.
Loss of flexibility is often a sign of atrophy and stasis setting in leading to rigidity and fragility. The Outlaw US Empire is losing its ability to act on its pleonexia, which is great for the world. The hope is that it won't become vindictive and blame its downfall on others when it only has itself to blame.
Thanks for the revolution report b
Western folks need to think about the implications of this revolution against the God of Mammon social system of the West. Will the public in the West continue to be Soylent Green for the barbaric top/bottom social structure? The Western public are being handed the keys to unlock the chains to their jackboot of "religious" class but will they take the opportunity or even understand that it is available?
The shit show continues until it doesn't and there is now a revolution led by Russia and China working to shut the global finance elite down while we watch and hopefully learn.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Jul 26 2022 16:44 utc | 24
Don't forget ASML, getting a boost from George Bush when he signed off on selling military component of SVG lithography to the Dutch and PM Balkenende. His best deal ever ...
https://www.eetimes.com/asml-acquires-svg-becomes-largest-litho-supplier/
The Dutch were willing to support the decision to invade Iraq and de Hoop Scheffer got his job @NATO
Don't forget ASML, getting a boost from George Bush when he signed off on selling military component of SVG lithography to the Dutch and PM Balkenende. His best deal ever ...
https://www.eetimes.com/asml-acquires-svg-becomes-largest-litho-supplier/
The Dutch were willing to support the decision to invade Iraq and de Hoop Scheffer got his job @NATO
Sanctions worked for a while, sorta, mostly through the 1990's when USA was true World Hegemon. But we over-used the technique, especially after Cheney/Bush era Neocons burrowed into the US Treasury Dept & developed better ways to punish allies who weren't sufficiently enthusiastic about starving Iran. By now, US is sanctioning countries representing significant % of world population, and more importantly, production. Presumably, USA imagined that we could bribe China into playing by our rules, but they won that game, essentially bribing Wall Street into selling them our manufacturing base. They have proved - again - that a National Industrial Policy can really make a country more powerful, quickly; and conversely, that the lack of same can make a country less powerful, quickly.
As b says, US sanctions have created an alliance against us, pushing them to develop their own economies. At the same time, we have hollowed out our own Real Economy, allowed our transportation & energy infrastructure to decay, and bullied so many other countries that we now have to pretend that NATO is the UN.
It's kinda ironic that the end of US ability to run The World was made obvious by the Worst Country On Earth - the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia - during Biden's recent visit. US thought that Israel had bought enough influence in KSA to keep them on "our" side, using Iran as a bogeyman to cement the deal, but it turns out that MBS also thinks that he's smarter than everybody else. US Dollar Dominance will quickly collapse if/when KSA & other Gulf States sell oil denominated in other currencies.
I just hope we - USA - bomb Riyadh rather than Teheran, Caracas, Beijing, or Moscow.
And I hope China figures out how to manage the transfer of power (from US to them) without triggering US' violent tendencies.
Posted by: elkern | Jul 26 2022 17:17 utc | 27
"homespun" is, or at least used to be, an important American word.
The English Tyrants tried to use 'economic warfare' to bring the recalcitrant American colonies back into full submission and obedience to the Royal Hiney of German blood who sat on the English throne. They decided that since the Americans were the classic colony and dependent upon the English for technology and advanced goods, which they earned by selling raw materials, that the whip to use upon the Americans was to raise the prices for such elite goods.
This is when it became Patriotic to wear 'homespun' fabrics. They were of lower quality than the elite English textiles, but they were made in America. The political statement and love of one's own country became more important than the quality of the fabric.
Its a shame that these privileged people who rule us don't know their own history. Or are even aware of Mr. Newton's law about how every action has an opposite and equal reaction. Those who wish to force others into submission appear to always make the same mistake, which is to assume 'There is no alternative.' When the choice is freedom or slavery, those who wish to be free can always find alternatives. But that's an American lesson that has been sent down the Memory Hole.
Posted by: Poor Richard | Jul 26 2022 17:18 utc | 28
@Oui | Jul 26 2022 17:06 utc | 26
---
NXP and Cadence report today. Should be interesting.
Posted by: too scents | Jul 26 2022 17:18 utc | 29
The ultimate sanction is Copyright and patent law that erects an artificial barrier to sharing knowledge in the service of monopoly rent seeking.
above Posted by: too scents | Jul 26 2022 15:02 utc | 1
There was never such a thing, at least not to any extent, and certainly not as a rent-extracting opportunity, in pre-capitalist history. While it is argued that inventors would then be deprived of the fruits of their inventions, I would reply that they are already routinely deprived of them anyway, as in the case of Nicola Tesla, and in any case corporate plunderers have no right to set them up as rent extraction opportunities or toll booths. While I would favor abolishing all patenting root and branch, not even allow corporations to patent their logos, there is a more moderate proposal that would allow inventors and authors to patent their own creations on condition that such patents lapse with the death of the holder and be forever non-inheritable, non-salable, and non-transferable. But corporations or the rich might be able to use that loophole to continue the patent system, so complete abolition would be better.
above Posted by: Cabe | Jul 26 2022 16:00 utc | 12
<= Ocean Tomo reports greater than 90% of Balance Sheet assets on exchange registered global monopoly powered corporations are intangible assets (copyrights, patents, trademarks, government contracts, and private-public investments). <==which means if the copyright and patents laws are removed from the books corporations like Microsoft,
Google, Apple sauce and most other Oligarch owned global monopoly powered corporations will be no bigger than the thimble that holds a persons thumb.
Monopoly power(copyrights, patents, trademarks, govt contracts and utility franchises, and private investments allowed in governmental enterprises) is generated by the nation state system.
The corporation itself is a fictional invention of nation state system. Those laws that create from hot thin air monopoly powers and bestow them on feudal lords (oligarch) loyal to the politicians that threaten the people who live on this earth explains the growing and massive difference between the wealth of the feudal wealthy 1% and the poverty of the 99%ers.
since the early 1960s I have been fighting to get the issues of monopoly powers into the public narrative. Patents and copyrights transfer monopoly powers( from the public domains and from domestic nation state governments) basically, the essence of government from government to the private ownership of but a very few people (people who do business in fictitious entities (corporations and partnerships with a view to avoid being sued or held liable for bankruptcy or corruption to their shareholders).
The irony is it took Russia's special military operation in Ukraine to get more than myself talking about how destructive to social society monopoly power in private hands really is.
The coming revolution likely will be over just as soon as international law is amended to to deny any nation state or any government or law or rule making body, seeking to govern any portion of humanity, to develop any system (legal or otherwise) that transfers public domain benefits or government power to private or non governmental interest.
Right to exclude others from the inventions, discoveries and creativity of mankind denies all humanity the benefit of our from the beginning social progress and is a violation of the rights of mankind.
Interesting <=there is no tax on patents or copyrights, counties and cities are missing out.
Ben Franklin <=diplomat to England when the British court
decided against perpetual copyright and patent laws in 1774 .. It was not the Copyright Act of 1709, that finally broke up the London booksellers' control of the book trade. the court decision rendered monopoly holders Legally powerless to retain control of publishing.
History shows that "by the last quarter of the century Irish and Scottish book sellers, supported by provincial retailers, were sufficiently strong to challenge the British monopoly,[they] undercut their [London] prices and open up the trade, inaugurating a new era in bookselling..
"When constraints and controls loosened, publishing expanded rapidly.."
Until perpetual copyright was declared invalid by the House of Lords in the case of Donaldson v. Beckett in 1774 decision against perpetual copyright, monopoly powers were perpetual. The Donaldson v. Beckett damaged the entrenched interest of booksellers much less than it might have since the (booksellers) instituted restrictive measures and took steps to ensure that they kept the powers the court ruled against.
Copyrights were sold, but only at auctions which members of the London trade were allowed to attend.
"Other extremely profitable monopolies, granted by royal patent, occluded the open market by granting exclusive printing rights, or patents, to certain types of literature. Like the copyrights, these patents became trade-able commodities in the publishing market.
In 1760, for example, Richardson bought a half share in the so-called Law-Patent from Miss Catherine Lintot, the daughter of a famous bookseller named Henry Lintot, which conferred exclusive rights to print books dealing with the common and statute law. It cost Richardson more than 1,000 pounds but its value was obvious: it provided a substantial and steady source of income (rentier profits) from legal guides and textbooks, editions of case law and statutes at large."
from p. 132-140 in "the Pleasures of the Imagination" John Brewer. ISBN 0-226-074-19-6
the corrupt oligarch behind the scenes in placing Article I, Section 8, paragraph 8 " to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive right to their respective Writings and Discoveries" <= into the 17 enumerated powers of congress was the printer, inventor, British and French diplomat and global internationalist, Ben Franklin, oligarch supreme.
Posted by: snake | Jul 26 2022 17:19 utc | 30
Patrick Lawrence's latest column further outlines how the west is being left behind due to its own arrogance and stupidity.
The construction of infrastructure to serve a 21st century world order has been under way for some time. China’s Belt and Road Initiative is a big part of it. Then you have bilateral relations improving here and there: China’s recent economic agreements with Cuba, China’s with Iran, Iran’s with Venezuela, China’s with Venezuela, India’s with Russia, and so on. These multiply as we speak....
Who, I have to ask, is leading the world forward in a sensible, constructive direction? And who is retarding this process with all its might, the only thing it has left?
Posted by: farm ecologist | Jul 26 2022 17:24 utc | 31
At home the US chose to rear nearly school-less lumpenproletariat. It was cheap. Abroad it is 20-20 nanny nanny boo boo and what you refuse see can't hurt you or even matter much. Also free to perform. A penny saved.
These two investments have matured. The US is broke.
Posted by: Carnabystreet Pete | Jul 26 2022 17:24 utc | 32
BTW, if one goes back to find old photos and rallies of the time when 'the left' was against globalization, and the Cheneys and the right were pro-globalization, one will find photos of signs that read 'There Is An Alternative'. Someone in the Thatcher regime, perhaps Maggie herself, had made the bold statement that with regard to the rule of the Financial Elite, that 'there was no alternative'. Thus, the pictures of the Leftist protestors who were protesting the World Trade Organization and the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund carrying the signs that read "There Is An Alternative".
The right of that time, under the Cheney regime in America after the Clintons had signed the WTO in 1999, attacked the protestors. Protestors with American flags yelled at us that we were unpatriotic, that we were anti-American, that we needed to 'get a job'. It was the Left that was trying to warn of the dangers of globalization designed only to maximize corporate profits and help the financial elites get even richer at the expense of good paying American jobs.
I say this only to point out that with the Old Left, very different from today's New Left, there was a possibility of an alliance between Left and Right to protect America and American jobs from globalization. This was of course viewed as a threat by the Globalists, and is the reason why the Right is taught to hate the Left so feverently, and the Left likewise taught to hate the Right.
The thing that scares the Globalists the worst, that gives them nightmares and sweats in the middle of the night, is that all of the people that they are robbing and killing will get together to oppose them. The thing that scares them is that someday, Divide and Conquer might not work. If you see someone else protesting, don't pay attention to ideology, but ask them specifics about why they are protesting. You are likely to find that they have the same problems with the same bankers and that they want much of the same solutions.
Posted by: Poor Richard | Jul 26 2022 17:34 utc | 33
I’m not convinced. In theory the US could use sanctions to build its own capacity. In reality, I don’t think they will or can. Remember where Deng (I think) reckoned that it didn’t matter if the cat was black or white so long as it caught mice? I go along with whoever it was said that in the US the only thing that matters is the colour of the cat. Well, maybe its gender and sexual preferences as well.
Posted by: Marco Polo | Jul 26 2022 17:40 utc | 34
Interesting paper on the Russian economy post-sanctions. The authors do not have a friendly disposition toward Russia and don't try to hide that, so I expect it will be a grating read around here but there are interesting charts and data in there:
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4167193
Posted by: Yenwoda | Jul 26 2022 17:43 utc | 35
@fnord #15
I appreciate your reply. So, we have "brain fog". That tells us that it is more than just "another flu". And it is plausible, given that the lungs are affected. The oxygen partial pressure in the blood may become long-time reduced, which is, by the way, one of the many trends in the aging body. The effect is, as I guessed, like sleepiness from CO2. Having said that, it is safe to say that, besides cognitive performance, motoric and immunologic functions are affected as well. -> Reading sample from the German magazine "Aging Research" Oxygen Multistep Therapy
Posted by: OttoE | Jul 26 2022 17:47 utc | 36
karlof1 | Jul 26 2022 16:40 utc | 23
re: ... US diplomacy has been reduced to a piece of chewing gum stuck to the sole of China's diplomatic shoes...
Thx your awesome reporting.
Such effective communication !
Posted by: chu teh | Jul 26 2022 17:47 utc | 37
@ Posted by: Poor Richard | Jul 26 2022 17:34 utc | 33
I say this only to point out that with the Old Left, very different from today's New Left, there was a possibility of an alliance between Left and Right to protect America and American jobs from globalization. This was of course viewed as a threat by the Globalists, and is the reason why the Right is taught to hate the Left so feverently, and the Left likewise taught to hate the Right.
US business unionism has often been hostile to immigration, yes. Samuel Gompers is infamous for arguing that Chinese workers should be prohibited from immigrating on the basis that their diet made them easier to exploit at higher rates than American workers (whose diet was more hearty, included beef and not just rice, etc.) I'm not so sure these ideas are defensible today, and of course they have to be introduced through the backdoor. I'm sure we can blame this on political correctness, but then again maybe PC language is just a way for people to express their discomfort with racist immigration policies and the policing of their movement across the globe.
I'm not enamored by the concept of the "nation-state" myself. I think a lot more decision-making power needs to be devolved to a much more local level, but this is not accomplished by any kind of nationalism, unless we have to go micro-nationalist and thus imperil the whole reason people have to demand nationalist policy (insufficient power in the hands of the central national government).
In ameriKKKa nationalism is what brought us to the point of globalization. And once the useful idiots of the nationalist right stopped being useful, capital chose other figureheads who would - like so many Chinese and Hindu walls - break down existing barriers to capital accumulation.
Posted by: fnord | Jul 26 2022 17:52 utc | 38
But a U.S. company recently found out that China' SMIC is already mass producing 7 nm chips.
"This is the most advanced technology product TechInsights has seen from SMIC so far and may be leading to a true 7nm process that incorporates scaled logic and memory bitcells," TechInsights said.
Ummm. No.
Founded in 1989, Techinsights is headquartered in Ottawa, Canada with over 320 employees and offices around the world.
SOURCE:
https://www.techinsights.com/about-techinsights/contact-us
The rest of the world moves forward.
The US marches backwards.
"Our future lies behind us.
An epoch of great senility"
Joe Tzu
Posted by: Sushi | Jul 26 2022 17:53 utc | 39
That's how the Zionist-Mason-Christo-Catholics of the H8_Hegemony(Greater_ISR+Vassal_G7) Operate from their Plutarchy, Vassal Corporate-Oligopoly/SocioPolitical-Ochlarchy, and on down to the Community Level.
If you're not in their "Clubs/Lodges/Churches/Synagogues/Political Parties" or serve the "Clubs" - you're due to be thieved, defrauded, "parasite-ridden", boycotted, and enslaved one way or another.
Posted by: IronForge | Jul 26 2022 17:53 utc | 40
@fnord, @OttoE, I think one of the interesting aspects of "long Covid" is that it's forcing us to confront the fact that post-infection symptoms without a clearly understood cause are common with a lot of viruses and bacteria. Covid hits hard so it's more obvious than with common infections, but IIRC there's literature on long-lingering symptoms after even flu for some sufferers. "Chronic Lyme" long after there's no trace of the bacteria causing it, etc. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of chronic pain + fatigue conditions like Fibromyalgia have a root in some infection that the body fought off long ago.
Posted by: yenwoda | Jul 26 2022 17:59 utc | 41
As pointed out by Dr. Michael Hudson, the great bifurcation, if it continues will result in the economic destruction of the West. As the stock markets are being whip sawed by daily news of resource availability to Europe, the Ukrainian war and it's economic consequences have proven we are living within a totally interdependent world. This will be even more so as the world's climate makes it's non-linear progression.
As the BRIC's cohesion progresses and as China/Russia come to dominate the scientific world with their strategic planning and China's enormous educated population, they will provide a structure for the future. The "free market" IE oligarchic domination of national decision making has proven it is incapable of providing the long term planning, as evidenced by the West's fossil fuel persistence, and lack of extensive state sponsored basic energy research. This includes both basic nuclear research and other alternatives. The Chinese decided to "go big" in lithium in 1997, as a strategic decision. Industry analysts have pointed out that it takes about 20 years to build an energy industry from the ground up. This has left the West 20 years behind the curve in batteries.
Already some Western scientists are complaining that Chinese scientists are altering their local mandatory scientific standards without sharing these changes with the West. Given the massive educated Chinese population and cohesive long term planning, they will be capable of technologically outstripping the West, and may decide not to carry us along by not sharing the information required for survival.
This is not a time for "strategic competition".
Posted by: Michael.j | Jul 26 2022 18:01 utc | 42
Necessity is the mother of invention as they say and both China and Russia will just fabricate what they need themselves and in the process the damage to Western businesses will be great, great damage has already been done with the sanctions placed upon all things Russian.
The USA and most European governments have and will continue to do great damage to their economies, and make their citizens poorer to keep up their war on Russia and economic war on China.
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Jul 26 2022 18:02 utc | 43
Corporate charters, like patents and copyrights, used to be limited and had definite expiration dates, usually between 5 to 20 years, after which the product went into the public sphere.
Those laws have been destroyed so long ago that even people now attacking patent and copyright laws accept that corporations live forever.
Copyrights usually go to individuals but patents now go to the corporation that employs the inventors, not the actual inventors.
In any case, the laws are under attack by corporate interests, because they want them to last forever, just like corporations.
Instead of attacking patents and copyright laws, our time would be better spent restoring limited corporate charters, including the provisions insuring that the product of the corporation be in the public interest.
I wrote this in 2019...https://wagelaborer.blogspot.com/2019/01/intellectual-property-and-war-on-china.html
Posted by: wagelaborer | Jul 26 2022 18:03 utc | 44
This tale of woe/woah reminds me of an old throwaway line..
"Those who can, do. Those who can't, Teach."
The dumbass Yankees are so busy 'teaching' the rest of the world that they've forgotten how to listen.
Imo, Musk will be able to fill the booster gap. He's an effing genius.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jul 26 2022 18:06 utc | 45
One of the purported harms that Western sanctions will produce is a "Russian brain drain" of its finest minds. So did a search and found that claims are based on a sanctions ruined Russian economy and other questionable assertions such as the finest minds in Russia cannot live in a country controlled by Putin and his war against democratic Ukraine.
Thing is, my speculation is that sanctions will prevent a Russian brain drain. First and foremost is that over the last 8 years or so Russia Phobia has reached hysterical levels. No Western institutions or companies would dare hire a Russian national in fear of a backlash. Russian people are non gratia in the West. Plus with Western companies leaving Russia, many new opportunities for young people forming companies, etc.
Sanctions and Western xenophobia against the Russians will ensure that Russia has the brain thrust for generations to come.
Posted by: Erelis | Jul 26 2022 18:10 utc | 46
IronForge @ 40
Something close to that is going on....
Posted by: circumspect | Jul 26 2022 18:16 utc | 48
CC:
Naftogaz of Ukraine has officially declared a default on Eurobonds, as the government of Ukraine has actually banned it from fulfilling its obligations due to lack of funds and inability to make deferred payments.
And it's not over yet in July. It will be quite fun in the fall.
Posted by: Naftogaz bdefault | Jul 26 2022 18:17 utc | 49
Posted by: Poor Richard | Jul 26 2022 17:34 utc | 33
I say this only to point out that with the Old Left, very different from today's New Left, there was a possibility of an alliance between Left and Right to protect America and American jobs from globalization. This was of course viewed as a threat by the Globalists, and is the reason why the Right is taught to hate the Left so feverently, and the Left likewise taught to hate the Right.
Actually, this may be reversing now. Just look at this forum. Many of us from both sides here.
A centrist movement can form if it manages to throw away the shackles of the extremes. I dont know how but collective challenges will help that.
Posted by: alek_a | Jul 26 2022 18:21 utc | 50
Erelis | Jul 26 2022 18:10 utc | 46
Exactly, fewer will want to leave now.
Reminds me of Maggie Blackamoor from Little Britain. Enjoy
Posted by: rk | Jul 26 2022 18:23 utc | 51
@Opport Knocks | Jul 26 2022 16:21 utc | 19
---You failed to make any argument in favor of patent or copyright.
In reality they are an externalized cost suffered by society.
Posted by: too scents | Jul 26 2022 16:25 utc | 21
If the books I have written and self-published were subject to what amounts to legal piracy, I would be hard-pressed to recoup the time and cost involved in their creation. So, I don't see it as unfair for the creator to get the first crack at profiting from his/her creation.
Posted by: David Levin | Jul 26 2022 18:29 utc | 52
Posted by: Naftogaz bdefault | Jul 26 2022 18:17 utc | 49
YeeeHAW!
Posted by: sln2002 | Jul 26 2022 18:43 utc | 53
So, I don't see it as unfair for the creator to get the first crack at profiting from his/her creation.
@David Levin | Jul 26 2022 18:29 utc | 52
---
It is of course not a zero-sum-game. You must also consider the value you have lost when others hoard their knowledge from you. And you must take into account the global effect of hoarding.
Posted by: too scents | Jul 26 2022 18:47 utc | 54
... the development means China is now further ahead than the US or Europe in having 7nm contract chip manufacturing capabilities since American chipmaker Intel has yet to make its 7nm process available to foundry customers. ...
Thanks for burying the anti-CN chip tech concern trolls up to their eyebrows.
All this while the U.S. and its allies lose market shares.
It’s worse than that, What’s coming down the tracks isn’t just Made in China, it’s Cheaper and Better.
The Axis market share against that kind of offer is zero.
Posted by: anon2020 | Jul 26 2022 18:48 utc | 55
I pulled it out of thin air based on what I remember to be estimates of the probability of developing long covid
Posted by: fnord | Jul 26 2022 15:55 utc | 11
I'm not sure if this sentence is made to be humourous, but it makes me laugh...
I didn't realise a probability could be an estimation of a memory that is pulled out of thin air... Now I know.
Posted by: xiao pignouf | Jul 26 2022 18:49 utc | 56
New American Tech
Most of today's cell phones originate in China.
It is reported a US manufacturer is set to bring phone manufacture back to the US with a revolutionary new US design. Consisting of a moulded plastic body sporting a round rotary dial expressly engineered to favour ageing hard-of-sight western populations, the device does not connect to the Internet as a security precaution. It also lacks video display capability to reduce the immoral American practice of watching porn at work, on public transit, while in school, in bed, and everywhere else.
A second key security feature is found in a handset which rests on top of the moulded plastic body and connects to it using a coiled flexible wire. When in use this handset is placed adjacent to the head to permit confidential reporting of suspect activity by neighbours, subversives, or members of the same household.
A third security feature is found in the fact the ensemble is too large and bulky to be easily carried away by thieves thereby protecting the consumer's $2,000 investment in advanced communications technology. Techniphone design features are thereby protected from falling into the hands of foreign intelligence services and their ceaseless theft of US technology.
Finally, to meet the Government's "Green Prescription Edict" no batteries are required thereby minimizing US demand for foreign lithium carbonate and other extremely rare earths. Each advanced Techniphone is powered by highly sustainable "Thurnberg Energy" delivered to it by a green wire which directly connects the customer to the US government's wire interception and greenish power facility.
This advanced communications technology is available in the customer's colour preference: Verdant Forest, Tranquil Mint, Iceberg Green, and Arugula. Trusted citizens in the NATO Satrapy Network are also able to obtain restricted use Techniphone licenses in any colour so long as it is black.
Posted by: Sushi | Jul 26 2022 18:55 utc | 57
“Interesting paper on the Russian economy post-sanctions. The authors do not have a friendly disposition toward Russia and don't try to hide that, so I expect it will be a grating read around here but there are interesting charts and data in there: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4167193” - Posted by: Yenwoda | Jul 26 2022 17:43 utc | 35I just read the first few pages of this “report”; it’s crap. Barflies, don’t waste your time.
Posted by: DocHollywood | Jul 26 2022 19:13 utc | 58
Speaking of space... in 2004 US president Bush announced Americans would set foot (again?) on the moon by 2020.
The time schedule was as follows (https://text.npr.org/1597182):
By 2008: NASA will develop and test a new spacecraft, called the Crew Exploration Vehicle, to replace the 30-year-old shuttle program. A series of robotic missions to the moon begins.
By 2010: NASA will retire its space shuttle fleet.
By 2014: The first manned mission for the Crew Exploration Vehicle.
By 2015: Astronauts will land on the moon using the Crew Exploration Vehicle.
By 2020: The United States will have established an extended human presence on the moon, using it as a launching pad for other manned exploration missions.
When in 1960 president Kennedy announced Americans would set foot on the moon it only took 9 years to do so, how come in 2004 it would take 16 years to set foot on the moon while all the technology and knowledge was already available since at least 1969? In the mean time in 2022 when the deadline quietly passed by there is no plan in the near future to do this manned US lunar mission let alone lunar station. The American lunar landings were a lie. It was all fake propaganda to make up for the lack of progress and victories the soviet union in its prime achieved back then. The story about the manned moon landings in the sixties and seventies is an insult to intelligence. The manned race to the moon is still open.
Posted by: xor | Jul 26 2022 19:15 utc | 59
@ Posted by: xiao pignouf | Jul 26 2022 18:49 utc | 56
It was lighthearted but I do believe my guesses until they're proven wrong.
Posted by: fnord | Jul 26 2022 19:16 utc | 60
@ Sushi | Jul 26 2022 18:55 utc | 57 with the humorous ditty....thanks!
I especially like
"
Each advanced Techniphone is powered by highly sustainable "Thurnberg Energy" delivered to it by a green wire which directly connects the customer to the US government's wire interception and greenish power facility.
"
Go read my latest comment on the Open Thread, not Ukraine for more along this line of thinking
Posted by: psychohistorian | Jul 26 2022 19:20 utc | 61
fnord | Jul 26 2022 15:55 utc | 11 et al
Your answer [to alek_a | Jul 26 2022 15:48 utc | 8] is brilliant and packed with meaning,,,if only a reader will do some hours searching the internet for understanding.
If you please, I dare to add my thoughts because I am just an old, worn-out science generalist, NOT an expert:
To wit: Pfizer never mentioned any testing, none at all, on whether the virus with its gain-of-function spike, will enter a cell's nucleus [beyond just entering the cell and making spikes] and change existing DNA so that the altered DNA [genes] also spreads anywhere/everywhere...with unknown effects. Either Pfizer and others did no testing on this prior to getting the Emer. Use Auth. for their "vaccines" or are withholding that vital data.
However, there are now publications of other researchers who claim actual demonstration of changes to genetic DNA and some data on the mechanisms by which the changes are made.
"Long-COVID" was predictable, years ago, at the research level in biology. That is why "gain-of-function" was named as a real threat and supposedly banned during Pres. Nixon's time in office....but that was ignored by some researchers.
Thus the timeline:
Japanese Battalion #731 [bio-warfare] in CHINA [late-1930's to 1945],
#731 researchers and their data move [1946?] to Fort Detrick in Maryland,
discovery early 1950s that DNA holds the human-coding function,
then PCR tech in 1980s [to prep tiny pieces of DNA code "bases"],
followed by CRISPR tech to edit [insert/manipulate the DNA] genetic code.
This is vital data. The Chinese .gov knew it and quietly prepared responses to predictable consequences...such as use of DNA-related bioweapons that the US was known to be researching, per the above timeline.
Posted by: chu teh | Jul 26 2022 19:39 utc | 62
Posted by: Altai | Jul 26 2022 16:25 utc | 22
Great summary, thank you.
Posted by: anon2020 | Jul 26 2022 19:45 utc | 63
OttoE | Jul 26 2022 17:47 utc | 36
The yuppy term long covid is an autoimmune condition. Other viruses can trigger the same reaction. Causes both physical and mental fatigue. A good number of those who go in the medical trashcan of chronic fatigue syndrome will have. I suspect though that the SARS-CoV-2 virus triggers that reaction more than other viruses plus the sheer number of people that get a covid infection.
That term I used - mental fatigue - to put that in perspective, think about the large arteries in the neck of humans and all mammals and why they are there.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jul 26 2022 19:46 utc | 64
The situation the Empire of Lies & Delusion finds itself in is much more dire than our host suggests (understandable as alarmist clickbait is not MoA's style). Not only are America's biggest adversaries going from strength to strength thanks to the sanctions, western culture itself is in an uncontrollable tailspin.
I posted this link earlier to support another topic, but it fits better here: Engineers on the brink of extinction threaten entire tech ecosystems.
That part of the technology industry which makes actual things has always been divided between hardies and softies, soldering iron versus compiler, oscilloscope versus debugger. But the balance is lost. Something is very wrong at the heart of our technology creation supply chain. Where have all the hardies gone?
The explanation offered by the author of that piece is little more than an excuse for why Millenials are useless, but the problem he brings attention to is very real: Americans are increasingly incapable of besting difficult challenges. They don't even want to try. Why spend years developing math and analytical skills for engineering when you can just bullshit your way through a "soft" university program like business or journalism? You can come to class every day totally unprepared and shitfaced drunk for those "soft" programs and still get the degree your parents paid for, so why take courses that require you to work hard and demonstrate comprehension and proficiency?
The West has nothing in the academic pipeline. When the last of those graybeards from the GI Bill era and their immediate offspring die off there will be little to replace them with. We are already at the point where most of my peers in the math department at the state university were recruited from abroad. High schools across the state have to go headhunting in the Philippines and India to find calculus teachers for the small handful of students still taking AP or IB level courses, and those students are almost all first or second generation transplants from Asia too.
"Yeah? Well we have imagination!" the slack-faced dullards protest.
Bravo [slow clap]. Can you do anything with it? No, because you need skills and discipline to transform the cartoons playing in your head into something tangible that exists in the real world.
And those Asian kids studying calculus? They have imaginations just as powerful as any domestically produced kids, but they will have the skills and the self-discipline to bring those imaginings to life.
The problems the West is facing are deeply rooted. They have been developing for generations and will take generations to reverse.
Posted by: William Gruff | Jul 26 2022 19:47 utc | 65
Posted by: elkern | Jul 26 2022 17:17 utc | 27:
Sanctions worked for a while, sorta, mostly through the 1990's when USA was true World Hegemon.
Yup! That's the key. Sanctions work only if you're the True World Hegemon.
Uncle Sam and its European vassals thought that they are still the true world hegemons. LOL!
Posted by: Oriental Voice | Jul 26 2022 19:52 utc | 66
Excellent article. Indeed the sanctions policies are 'boomeranging'. The next person on the Moon is likely a Chinese and I will be happy to congratulate them when it happens. Then onto Mars.
Posted by: Norwegian | Jul 26 2022 19:53 utc | 67
Posted by: Yenwoda | Jul 26 2022 17:43 utc | 35
Posted by: DocHollywood | Jul 26 2022 19:13 utc | 58
Relating to a Yale study of the effects of sanctions on the Russian economy.
"DocHollywood", that study cannot be dismissed so easily. Not if it's read by policy makers in Washington. It will encourage them to believe that if they can only intensify the sanctions, they will win against Russia. "One last push and we'll do it", will be the attitude.
Not forgetting that the ingenious construction of sanctions to deliberately harm the populations of target countries is an industry in Washington. Such as Dana Stroul or Richard Nephew - the "sanction ghouls" as I think of them - work out how to cause as much suffering as possible at the least cost. It's a certainty that similar ghouls are now working out how to harm the Russian population.
With that mindset, and encouraged by such studies as that Yale study, Washington is no doubt hoping to find that "one last push" that'll defeat the Russians.
This accounts for the fact that the unfortunate Ukrainian soldiers are now sacrificed daily in the Donbas. Those who direct Ukrainian military actions are not the Ukrainian General staff. They are the Western governments who are pushing Kiev on to fight a war that is already lost.
And the job of the Ukrainian military is to hold the line, at savage cost, while the Western governments, encouraged by such work as that Yale study, try another "one last push" in the sanctions war.
Psychos the lot of them. Ingenious psychos, I'll give them that, but that perhaps makes their activities yet more repulsive.
Posted by: English Outsider | Jul 26 2022 19:54 utc | 68
With a significant outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Indonesia occurring I wonder if the US is behind it to further pressure Indonesia and show what they can still do ?
Posted by: mustangemely | Jul 26 2022 19:54 utc | 69
CC:
Gas war news.
1. Bloomberg reports, citing unnamed sources, that the Kremlin has decided to minimize gas supplies to Europe until it begins to lift sanctions.
2. The price of gas in Europe today reached $ 2,200 per 1,000 cubic meters in anticipation of the start of tomorrow's "repair" on the Nord Stream, which will lead to a reduction in pipeline supplies from 40 million to 33 million cubic meters per day.
3. The EU has decided to reduce gas consumption by 15%, but some countries do not want to fulfill it, and some are ready only by 7%. And even if everyone agreed to save 15% of gas (with known consequences for the economy), European estimates show that this will not save the father of European democracy from gas shortages in winter.
4. Schroeder, who represents a large German industry, urgently flew to Moscow for negotiations on "energy negotiations". Large German industrial capital is looking for ways for separate negotiations.
5. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation proposes to solve the problem of "repair" on the Nord Stream-1 by launching the Nord Stream-2. The turbine has not arrived yet. But of course it's not only and not so much about the turbine.
6. The German government stated that if Germany agrees to use the Nord Stream-2, it will mean capitulation to Russia and the defeat of Germany.
7. Against this background, Naftogaz of Ukraine today announced its default on Eurobonds. Ukrenergo and Ukravtodor are also asking for a postponement of debt payments. If they don't, they will also declare default.
And it's only July so far.
Posted by: gas | Jul 26 2022 20:15 utc | 70
Developing a multipolar world or even the sanctioning of China could rebuild the US’s industry. But it won’t. That would take an industrial policy and government investment. Such acts would be blocked by the financial free marketeers and all the Americans who just know that all government is bad. Theoretically, a political leader could guide the nation on that path, but there is none on the horizon. Trump actually had the best opportunity of any modern US President when Covid struck. He could have realigned the US economy and served the majority of people. His instincts would have made him easy to lead to such actions and the adoration he would have gotten from voters would have carried him on. (Imagine trump doing a Covid debt jubilee and telling the bankers to eat it.)
But the moments we are in are far too big for the people who lead us. They don’t have actual ideas and are in thrall of wealth and power. So no, the US will not take the opportunity to rebuild itself. We’ll have to hit bottom first.
Posted by: Lex | Jul 26 2022 20:21 utc | 71
@Hoarsewhisperer | Jul 26 2022 18:06 utc | 45
Imo, Musk will be able to fill the booster gap. He's an effing genius.Effing, yes. Genius, no.
The ISS will fall to Earth after the Russians leave. After all, its only real purpose was to be an expensive target for the Space Shuttle, which had no other purpose than being an expensive way to visit the ISS. The Space Shuttle failed spectacularly as we all know, but it generated many invoices.
I say that as a space enthusiast. I just remember the Moon Landing and was so looking forward to more manned space exploration, but it never happened.
Posted by: Norwegian | Jul 26 2022 20:34 utc | 72
It's my ball so I'm captain, striker and referee . . . . . or I'm taking it home.
Those were the days my friend
We thought they'd never end . . .
Well they have, we've brought our own ball.
Posted by: WTFUD | Jul 26 2022 20:34 utc | 73
It is of course not a zero-sum-game. You must also consider the value you have lost when others hoard their knowledge from you. And you must take into account the global effect of hoarding.Posted by: too scents | Jul 26 2022 18:47 utc | 54
I did consider these factors, which is why my comment was framed in the context of recovering the expense to create the work. Once the creator has achieved this and made a reasonable profit (where "reasonable" might be defined as "sufficient to cover even the person's creative attempts that either proved infeasible or didn't sell well"), I would concur that anyone else with a desire to profit from the creation be permitted to do so at little or no licensing cost.
Posted by: David Levin | Jul 26 2022 20:39 utc | 74
@xor | Jul 26 2022 19:15 utc | 59
The American lunar landings were a lie. It was all fake propaganda to make up for the lack of progress and victories the soviet union in its prime achieved back then. The story about the manned moon landings in the sixties and seventies is an insult to intelligence.No, the insult is yours.
The decline after Apollo was so consistent, long term and deep that Apollo apparently seems unreal to some today. But it did happen.
Posted by: Norwegian | Jul 26 2022 20:42 utc | 75
So let me get this straight
According to the German economic maestro: More gas to Germany through NS1= European win,
However, More gas to Germany through NS2= European loss
Hmm!.I think this must be one of those differential equations I struggled with back in Uni days
Posted by: DaVinci | Jul 26 2022 20:49 utc | 76
@Posted by: Altai | Jul 26 2022 16:25 utc | 22
"Which is why a US economic war on China is actually in the US interest long term. It needs to build up it's manufacturing abilities again."
@Posted by: Michael.j | Jul 26 2022 18:01 utc | 42
"As pointed out by Dr. Michael Hudson, the great bifurcation, if it continues will result in the economic destruction of the West."
The US needs to rebuild itself but it won't, the US (and UK etc.) elites nowadays are very, very different from the generation that fought WW2 and built US capabilities in the post-war years. They were engineers and visionaries, not MBA's and financial extractors.
From the 1980s the genius of Walt Disney was extracted by Michael Eisner, whose only real insight was to recognize the price inelasticity of the demand for the theme parks and spin-offs (its a Harvard case study on how to maximize profits). So he gouged the US consumer to massively increase Disney profits, becoming massively rich on stock options while shafting Disney employees and not building the franchise. At GE, also from the 1980s Jack Welch extracted the value from what had been previously built and then turned it into a hedge fund with manufacturing facilities added. Later, even Intel stopped focusing on "eating their own children" and ramped up stock buybacks while losing the lead in chip technology. Then there is Boeing, and a long list of what used to be the pantheon of the US manufacturing elite. Apple long ago became a design, global value chain control, intellectual property manipulator, and middle man extractor (iTunes, App Store) with all the manufacturing done in China and other places abroad. Then we have the financial institutions that predominantly invest in real estate and financial manipulation while getting a drink at the bailout trough at least once a decade.
Nowadays, US corporate executives don't look to build businesses, they look to find markets that they can monopolize as quickly as possible and then extract economic rents. This is why the middleman profits are so high in the US, its all about cornering the market and extracting tribute on the middleman toll road, not going through the long hard slog of growing complex capabilities. Even if they did want to build the skills have gone and would take decades of work to get back, skills such as tool and die making have been destroyed as the skilled employees were paid off while being off-shored. Those skills are now in places like Shenzen, that did the decades worth of work rather than destroying it.
As China removes each point of technology dependence, the US (and Western) ability to extract the value add from other nations through control of value chains, distribution networks and intellectual property will diminish and much of that value add inflow will be removed. It is that extracted value add that keeps the US economy and society somewhat stable (together with self-sufficiency in energy and food etc.), without it the hollowness of the economy will be laid bare. Just imagine how much China saved by having its own domestic Tencent etc. controlling e-commerce and the state controlling its banks, now those savings (and possible export earnings) will expand to the other sectors such as chips and automobiles (as Chinese EV manufacturers oust most foreigners from the domestic market and take market share abroad).
Even in the food commodity markets, a handful of Western corporations act as the controlling middlemen profiteers (Cargill, Dreyfus, Bunge, ADM). With Russia combining its increasing share of world exports of food and fertilizers with both Belarus and Ukraine and China as a huge buyer and investor, those Neo-colonial extractive relationships could also be lessened and re-appropriated.
Then we have the scientists, where over 50% are foreign due to the low wages offered by US universities and corporations. China is already finding some success at bringing Chinese scientists home with better pay and much larger research budgets and prestige. Without the supply of cheap Chinese, Indian etc. post-grads and entry level scientists the US will have a huge problem in rebuilding whole research teams while the cost of those scientists rises significantly to get US students back into science - with many, many years of lead time until they become really useful and with shortages of professors to teach them.
A very significant share of Western income and wealth is based on these extractive and neo-colonial relationships, backed by US financial and military strength and the manipulation of intellectual property and monopolistic middlemen positions (the clothing industry is the same). As the Rest escape these, the West will become significantly poorer. Less income and wealth equals less ability to fund a global military, especially if the dollar depreciates as the trade deficit grows ever wider.
Its why the "China 2025" project produced such a hugely negative response from US and Western elites. Its seems the project has kept going without the publicity, and has probably been ramped up as the West gets more aggressive. The more aggressive the West gets the more China focuses on cutting its dependence chord and the faster the West declines. If only the Western elites could understand that their only option is to cooperate with China and Russia to produce a much shallower descent, right now they have the joystick getting pushed further and further forward.
The decision to withdraw from the ISS coincided with the appointment of the new head of Roscosmos, Borisov.
https://t.me/ZandVchannel/24620
Russia has decided to withdraw from the ISS project after 2024, the main priorities will be made on the creation of a Russian orbital station, - said the head of Roscosmos Borisov
Posted by: Norwegian | Jul 26 2022 21:07 utc | 78
@Posted by: Norwegian | Jul 26 2022 20:42 utc | 75
The whole drive for the US space program was to beat the Russians after the first Sputnik launches, which they did when they landed on the moon. After that, the focus drifted very rapidly - especially with the Vietnam denouement and the economic and financial debacle of the 1970s. Then the very public failure of the "reusable" Space Shuttle.
To maintain skills money needs to be spent and programs kept going, otherwise over decades the skills degrade and the skilled people retire. In addition, the relative pay of scientists in the US has declined so much vs. financial speculation, legal games, and healthcare gouging etc. - why would the best minds want to eke out a living as a space scientist? Then add the privatization of responsibility to people such as Musk and the general degradation of US public organizations into open profiteering troughs.
I share your view that it is hard to see the US once again stepping on the Moon, or Mars, it will probably be Chinese and Russians.
Yuri Borisov, the new Roscosmos chief is a scientist specialised in electronics, a military officer, was the Head of the Department of Electronics National Nuclear Research University, a Doctor of Science, and a deputy prime minister of the Russian Federation, before becoming the head of Roscosmos. So, the best person to kick the US out of space programs.
Northorp Grumman produces Himars...just a thought...😏
Posted by: ostro | Jul 26 2022 21:14 utc | 80
Poor Richard @33--
The distinction during the 1990s was Corporate Globalization and the associated threat that corporations would rule the world as David Korten predicted in his books and Yes! magazine. Another slogan was Think Global; Act Local. The underlying truth is the process of globalization has been with humans since we first migrated from Africa. Much later, the use of the WTO as a neocolonial tool of Outlaw US Empire hegemony along with IMF and World Bank was made into a Movement that helped the Global South democratize the WTO and turn it into their own tool to fight neocolonialism. The threat of Corporate Globalization still remains, but in a much different form--Neoliberal Rentier Parasitism--that aims to turn all commoners into debt peons. Other issues are certainly involved in the sea change, the delegitimization of NATO/Outlaw US Empire in the eyes of the Global South due to its aggression and neocolonial pursuits being fundamental. China's emergence and Russia's rebound are also big factors, China's in particular as it shows a different successful development pathway.
China and the Global South now see globalization as something positive, while evil Globalists wanting to control the world still exist. Unfortunately, it's too easy to get the terms/players confused. I see globalization as a positive process reflective of a maturing humanity that must learn how to coexist. Immature nations like the Outlaw US Empire seeking global hegemony are a problem and must be convinced of the error of their ways.
Imagine what happens, if/when China refuses to produce iPhones, iPads, Macbooks and such...😏
Posted by: ostro | Jul 26 2022 21:17 utc | 82
The Russian decision to drop the yankees is very good news. It makes me happy.
Now I would expect and hope that the Russians will disclose what they know about the fake lunar Apollo missions.
Unless they will keep their word...
Posted by: Olivier | Jul 26 2022 21:22 utc | 83
What inflation means for university Prost-graduates in the UK, treating your future innovators worse than Barristas...
PhD students told to consider selling Avon products to make ends meet
UK student loan interest based on the real price index, so student debtors will pay much higher interest rates than anyone else!
Graduates to be hit with ‘brutal’ student loan interest rates of up to 12%
US post-grads:
PhD students face cash crisis with wages that don’t cover living costs
The Us and UK making it so easy for the Rest to escape the techno-colonial controls, while students focus on the highest paying jobs possible to try to build some level of financial base - usually in finance and consulting if they can get them. Being a post-grad researcher or an entry-level scientist in the US and UK would be the victory of hope and self-sacrifice over brutal reality. Europe isn't much better.
@Roger | Jul 26 2022 21:09 utc | 79
I am pleased to say I totally agree. You also need inspiration and a measurable goal the way JFK provided with "by the end of this decade". I hope to see the Russians and Chinese succeed before my time is up.
Btw., the USSR reached the surface of Venus ~5 times (unmanned of course).
Fascinating Look at the Surface of Venus as Captured by the Venera 13 Spacecraft
Posted by: Norwegian | Jul 26 2022 21:27 utc | 86
The decline after Apollo was so consistent, long term and deep that Apollo apparently seems unreal to some today. But it did happen.
Posted by: Norwegian | Jul 26 2022 20:42 utc | 75
Sorry, but you are wrong on this point. The technology to go directly to the moon from the earth and return with a manned spaceship did not exist back then and still does not exist today.
The Saturn V rocket was a scam. As well as all the propaganda around these "missions".
Most arguments are presented here:
https://www.aulis.com/investigation.htm
There are also several books explaining it all. Kubrik's Shining has some clues too.
And Ammerican Moon by M. Nazzucco:
https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffsb&q=massimo+mazzucco+american+moon&ia=web
It is interesting that you present NO argument.
The most funny thing was the Apollo 13 capsule retrieved from the Altantic by the Soviets.
Posted by: Olivier | Jul 26 2022 21:35 utc | 87
William Gruff @65--
Yes, quite so! Your comment is one reason why I link to the details of the many Russian intellectual and leadership contests. They show very well that youth can turn their dreams/ideas into practical applications in ways that amaze. Earlier in the thread a mention was made of Hudson's prediction of a bifurcated world but missing from that comment was when he first made that prediction and the book he wrote about it, Global Fracture: The New International Economic order, 1979, well before the age of computing and hyper-deindustrialization.
Anyone heard about Macron lately?
Posted by: ostro | Jul 26 2022 21:26 utc | 85
He is currently in Africa very much afraid of the influence of Russia on the continent. Go figure, Lavrov is receiving warm receptions everywhere he is going, currently in Black Africa after Egypt.
Posted by: Olivier | Jul 26 2022 21:42 utc | 89
And Ammerican Moon by M. Nazzucco:
Correction:
And American Moon by Massimo Mazzucco.
Sorry.
Posted by: Olivier | Jul 26 2022 21:44 utc | 90
@Olivier | Jul 26 2022 21:35 utc | 87
The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command. George Orwell -1984
😎
Posted by: Norwegian | Jul 26 2022 21:48 utc | 91
Roger @77&84--
Your synopsis @77 is excellent.
@84--The same can be said for the overall teaching profession, particularly K-12, where too many teachers need a second job to make ends meet. In 2000, I saw the writing on the wall and decided against finishing my PhD program as both the pay and politics were going to be problems that turned out to be correct judgements.
@Olivier | Jul 26 2022 21:35 utc | 87
Sorry, but you are wrong on this point. The technology to go directly to the moon from the earth and return with a manned spaceship did not exist back then and still does not exist today.
The correct terminology for the orbit employed is Free-return trajectory
For a very detailed and thorough explanation of the technology, please read this book (I have a physical copy):
How Apollo Flew to the Moon
Posted by: Norwegian | Jul 26 2022 22:01 utc | 93
The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command. George Orwell -1984
😎
Posted by: Norwegian | Jul 26 2022 21:48 utc | 91
Letzter Kunstgriff
Wenn man merkt, daß der Gegner überlegen ist und man Unrecht behalten wird, so werde man persönlich, beleidigend, grob. Das Persönlichwerden besteht darin, daß man von dem Gegenstand des Streites (weil man da verlornes Spiel hat) abgeht auf den Streitenden und seine Person irgend wie angreift: man könnte es nennen argumentum ad personam, zum Unterschied vom argumentum ad hominem: dieses geht vom rein objektiven Gegenstand ab, um sich an das zu halten, was der Gegner darüber gesagt oder zugegeben hat. Beim Persönlichwerden aber verläßt man den Gegenstand ganz, und richtet seinen Angriff auf die Person des Gegners : man wird also kränkend, hämisch, beleidigend, grob. Es ist eine Appellation von den Kräften des Geistes an die des Leibes, oder an die Tierheit. Diese Regel ist sehr beliebt, weil jeder zur Ausführung tauglich ist, und wird daher häufig angewandt.
Schopenhauer.
It becomes even more interesting: you still present NO argument. Only an ad personam fallacy.
Posted by: Olivier | Jul 26 2022 22:05 utc | 94
Posted by: yenwoda | Jul 26 2022 17:59 utc | 41
In thin you are quite right. Indeed studies of the illness we termed Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (it has another name now which i cannot recall) have been shown to have the same triggers/effects etc as Long Covid. I guess the jury is out as to whether those affected by chronic fatigue Syndrome has been infected by a specific virus- perhaps one related to COVID eg another Corona virus, or if there is a much wider number of viruses that have this affect.
However there are lots of viruses that do stick around in our bodies, with long term effects. The most obvious are Chicken Pox (re-emerges on mature age as Shingles) and Herpes as recurrent cold sores. Similar stories are emerging constantly. It is also common for the larger animal/fungi infectious agents eg the Malaria parasite, athletes foot or thrush.
With bacteria many pathogens hang about in our noses, gut or skin, waiting for an opportunity to go rogue when we are feeling low. Most pneumonia act in this way.
Then on top of all this are the autoimmune diseases infections often trigger.
Posted by: watcher | Jul 26 2022 22:05 utc | 95
China is also building more chip factories than anyone else:
China is leading the world in building new chip factories, a step toward achieving more self-sufficiency in semiconductors that could eventually make some buyers reliant on China for many of the basic chips now in short supply.
As chip makers race worldwide to boost production and ease supply shortages, no country is expanding faster than China, which is slated to build 31 major semiconductor factories, known as fabs, during the four years through 2024, according to the chip-industry group SEMI.
If China does this, would they care if they blasted some semiconductor companies in Taiwan to oblivion during a takeover?
Just spitballin' here.
Posted by: Michigan Dude | Jul 26 2022 22:07 utc | 96
Posted by: William Gruff | Jul 26 2022 19:47 utc | 65
Why spend years developing math and analytical skills for engineering when you can just bullshit your way through a "soft" university program like business or journalism?
It is not only a matter of convenience for the students, but also a polital program. We had a political science university chair holder (Werner Patzelt, Technical University Dresden, "imported" from the catholic West) who seriously claimed in a forum with the head of state that "...the popularity of the far right and violent demonstrations in the East are rooted in its communist shaped education system, in which "...social subjects have been systematically kept down in favor of of scientific education...". Since his retirement in 2019 he works as campaign advisor for the CDU party. Theocracy instead of redistribution of wealth...
Posted by: OttoE | Jul 26 2022 22:11 utc | 97
Posted by: Olivier | Jul 26 2022 21:35 utc | 87
Great, discussions about fake moon landing. The thing we need on this thread, we were missing it.
Posted by: alek_a | Jul 26 2022 22:12 utc | 98
Posted by: Norwegian | Jul 26 2022 22:01 utc | 93
https://www.aulis.com/new-moon.htm
Posted by: Olivier | Jul 26 2022 22:13 utc | 99
@ too scents | Jul 26 2022 16:25 utc | 21 / 54
i agree with your take on all this too scents... i am a musician and have had to go thru the copyright process... copyright and patents favour the big corporations who take grants from the gov't and etc. etc. and then turn around and don't share the wealth with the society that have gotten the support from.. with a small unknown artist like me or author - like david levin perhaps - it matters not... i think its completely irrelevant, but this argument gets used to help solidify the corps hold on things..
Posted by: james | Jul 26 2022 22:14 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
The ultimate sanction is Copyright and patent law that erects an artificial barrier to sharing knowledge in the service of monopoly rent seeking.
How is Copyright and patent law enforced? With sanctions. What happens next?
Posted by: too scents | Jul 26 2022 15:02 utc | 1