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Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is currently in China where she does her best to further piss off her host.

Yellen, in Beijing, Criticizes China’s Treatment of U.S. Companies – NY Times, Jul 7, 2023
The concerns of Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen reflect continuing tensions between the two countries.

Yellen Urges China to Step Up Climate Finance Investments – NY Times, Jul 7, 2023
Janet Yellen, the Treasury secretary, said China, the largest emitter of greenhouse gases, can have “greater impact” tackling climate change by working with other nations.

Washington Raises Pressure on China to Combat U.S.’s Fentanyl Crisis – NY Times, Jul 7, 2023

The general attitude of the U.S. is that it can harass China with whatever it likes under its 'national security' mantle while it has a right to expect China to cooperate in other fields. It is a 'don't look at what we do but at what we say' policy.

This anecdote from the last link explains it well:

During the Blinken visit, the secretary told reporters that the two countries had agreed to “explore setting up a working group or joint effort” to combat fentanyl trafficking. But any prospects for cooperation faded just days later when U.S. federal prosecutors announced the indictment of four Chinese companies accused of trafficking chemicals used by Mexican drug cartels to manufacture vast quantities of fentanyl sold in the United States.

China can easily deflect these accusations. Citing the Cocaine find in the White House it underlines that the failure of U.S. internal drug policies has nothing to do with China:

Cont. reading: Bashing China Has Replaced The Diplomatic Dialogue

The Washington Post says that the U.S. will now give cluster munition to Ukraine.

Biden approves cluster munition supply to Ukraine

President Biden has approved the provision of U.S. cluster munitions for Ukraine, with drawdown of the weapons from Defense Department stocks due to be announced Friday.

The munition will be 155mm grenades, Dual Purpose Improved Conventional Munitions (DPICM), that can be fired by 'western' provided artillery.

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The decision, likely illegal, was made because the U.S. and its allies have run out of other 155mm munitions:

The move, which will bypass U.S. law prohibiting the production, use or transfer of cluster munitions with a failure rate of more than 1 percent, comes amid concerns about Kyiv’s lagging counteroffensive against entrenched Russian troops and dwindling Western stocks of conventional artillery.

It is accompanied by false statements that Russia has used such ammunition in Ukraine:

Cont. reading: Ukraine – Biden Again Escalates

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News & views (not related to the war in Ukraine) …

After a month of failed attempts to reach the Russian defense lines the Ukrainian side is stuck. Its forces are unable to even cross the security zone in front of the Russian lines. The long promoted counter-offensive, launched to to pressure from Washington and NATO, has undoubtedly failed. As it has caused enormous losses with no substantial gains the Ukrainian army is now changing its tactic.

Yesterday the secretary of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council, Oleksiy Danilov, tweeted in English and Russian:

At this stage of active hostilities, Ukraine’s Defense Forces are fulfilling the number one task – the maximum destruction of manpower, equipment, fuel depots, military vehicles, command posts, artillery and air defense forces of the russian army. The last few days have been particularly fruitful. Now the war of destruction is equal to the war of kilometers. More destroyed means more liberated. The more effective the former, the more the latter. We are acting calmly, wisely, step by step.

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Overnight the Ukrainian army fired more missiles on Donetz city and into the Belgograd and Kursk regions of Russia.

Attritional warfare is of course what Russia has practiced over the last twelve month by systematically destroying Ukrainian forces, especially artillery and weapon supplies along the front line as well as deep within the Ukraine. When both sides commit to attrition warfare, like in World War I, the side with more resources will usually win. In this conflict that side is without doubt the Russian one.

The Ukrainian leadership is in deep denial of this fact:

Clash Report @clashreport – 9:12 UTC · Jul 5, 2023

Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of the Ground Forces of Ukraine:

The counteroffensive is going according to plan. The command assures that Bakhmut will be liberated, and the losses of the Russians are 8-10 times higher than the Ukrainian ones.

During the last months the Russian side fired ten times more artillery ammunition than the Ukrainian. Russia also wages a dedicated counter-battery mission that is killing Ukrainian artillery systems.

In modern warfare artillery is causing about three quarter of all losses. The real number of killed and wounded on the Ukrainian side is thereby about 10 times higher than on the Russian side. The first time I wrote about this was in May 2022. The theme continued to December and more recently.

Syrsky will likely know this but he has to lie to not push his troops morale below its freezing point.

For real attrition warfare the Ukrainian army would have to retreat to well build defense lines and to then try to hold off whatever the Russians decide to throw at them. There is no sign yet that Ukraine is doing that.

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Xi to Biden:

Do you really want to hamper our chip producing companies?

Really?

China curbs critical metal exports in retaliation for Western restrictions on chip industry

China on Monday ordered export restrictions on two technology-critical elements in retaliation for new Western sanctions on its semiconductor industry.

The restrictions, which take effect on August 1, will apply to gallium and germanium metals and several of their compounds, which are key materials for making semiconductors and other electronics.

The Ministry of Commerce said in a statement that the export controls on gallium- and germanium-related items were necessary “to safeguard national security and interests”.

Exporters in China will need to apply for permission from the ministry, with information about the end users and how the materials will be used.

Gallium and germanium are used in lots of electronic components. AESA (active electronically scanned array) radars used on modern warships and fighter airplanes can not be made without those metals. China produces some 95% of those available on the global market.

It will take one or two years until the currently available stocks outside of China are diminished. But it takes much longer to open up new mining and processing facilities for replacement of the Chinese production. The processes used therein are quite dirty. A not-in-my-backyard attitude will make any setup of new facilities difficult to pursue.

The situation will soon become similar to the titanium market where Russia is the biggest global supplier but has restricted access for certain customers.

This is just one of many cards China (and Russia) can play in their anti-sanction games.

The U.S. is reaching the limits of its sanction power.

Only for news & views directly related to the Ukraine conflict.

The current open thread for other issues here.

Please stick to the topic. Contribute facts. Do not attack other commentators.

Only for news & views directly related to the Ukraine conflict.

The current open thread for other issues here.

Please stick to the topic. Contribute facts. Do not attack other commentators.

Last week's post on Moon of Alabama:

• June 26 – Prigozhin's Farce Is Over And It Is Clear Who Has Won
  Related:
  – The Wagner Mutiny – Jacques Baud / Postil
  – Patrick Lawrence: Russian (Melo)drama – Scheerpost
  – Prigozhin’s Rebellion: What Just Happened in Russia? – Ted Snider – Libertarian Institute

• June 27 – How To Plant Propaganda: "Putin has been weakened. Russia is crumbling."
  Related:
  – The Wagner mutiny has made Putin stronger – Conservative Women
  – The Russian ‘revolt’ that wasn’t strengthens Putin’s hand – Seymore Hersh
  – Regular Russian Army fast becoming world’s most powerful military in ground combat – Gilbert Doctorow

• June 28 – Ukraine SitRep: Prigozhin Affair – Kramatorsk Missile Attack – Updated
  Related:
  – Ukraine Timeline Tells the Story – Consortium News
  – 25 Tanks And Fighting Vehicles, Gone In A Blink: The Ukrainian Defeat Near Mala Tokmachka Was Worst Than We Thought – Forbes

• June 30 – The Over-Hyped 'Spy' Balloon That Didn't
  Related:
  – Did the US Blink? – Observer R / Sonar21
  – The Official End to Hegemony? – Observer R / Sonar21
  – How a reckless report could increase the chance of a crisis with China – Responsible Statecraft
  – Why does so much of the world’s manufacturing still take place in China? – The Conservation

• June 30 – Ukraine's Zaluzhny Is Back And Asking For More Weapons
  Related:
  – Ukraine’s costly counteroffensive must produce results before NATO summit – Zelenskyy – Yahoo
  – CIA director, on secret trip to Ukraine, hears plan for war’s endgame – Washington Post
  – Revealed: Russian neo-Nazi leader obtained UK missiles in Ukraine – Declassified UK

—
Other issues:

Cont. reading: The MoA Week In Review – (Not Ukraine) OT 2023-156

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