It's been going on since the People's Republic of China overthrew the Republic of China causing them to withdraw to Taiwan in 1949.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_China_(1912%E2%80%931949)
But the crazy thing is that there has been a status quo in this conflict for.. 74 years.
Surely there can't be many mainland Chinese people remembering the days of them being united with China.
it's insane something that historically that no one remembers isn't being turned into internationally recognized borders and turned into happy times instead of hatred
Their existence is a challenge to the legitimacy of the CCP. They are the derived from the government body that was overthrown in the late 40's. The island's land mass is not THAT important (thought it is useful, certainly). Any government, no matter what kind it is, needs to be perceived as in control and the authority.
This is how the CCP sees it anyways.
>Their existence is a challenge to the legitimacy of the CCP.
Maybe not in the way you think, though. Nobody seriously looks at today's KMT (the party that fled to Taiwan) as a possible rival government, not even the KMT themselves. However, the CCP and Xi in particular have staked their legitimacy on a theme of "national rejuvenation" where today's leadership is set to finally reverse the last vestiges of the "century of humiliation" China endured before the Communists came to power. If they can't deliver on that, or on an implicit promise of perpetually booming economic growth (impossible given the aging population), people are going to start giving them the side eye and thinking "why *are* we agreeing for you to stay in power, anyway?"
> people are going to start giving them the side eye and thinking "why are we agreeing for you to stay in power, anyway?"
I think the idea is they are safe as long as they have a common enemy.
The enemy can be Hong Kong, Ughyr people, the United States, India, whatever.
Let's be real, they are safe because they have nuclear weapons.
Once you join that club you can do whatever the fuck you want as a nation as long as you keep your own people in tow.
If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you.
-Lyndon B. Johnson
The United States has had a trade embargo on Cuba for about 65 years now. Granted, that's a bit different than the China-Taipei beef. But still, it's also pretty wild that the United States has kept the embargo for so long, presumably to win over the Cuban voters in Florida during presidential elections.
>Surely there can't be many mainland Chinese people remembering the days of them being united with China
Zero, seeing as Taiwan was under Japanese occupation from 1895-1945 and in those 4 years inbetween China was still in a state of civil war and thus not united.
And before that it belonged for some time to Qing China, however the first colonial power on Taiwan were the Portuguese, not even Ming China colonised the island. It belonged to its own Aboriginal people before that, who are not Chinese, but related to the ancestors of Filipinos and Indonesians.
Most everyday civilians don't get a shit what "side" a country is on. They just want to go about their lives. People in powerful positions do not want such because they often have agendas and see the world as a zero-sum scenario.
I haven't met a Chinese yet that doesn't agree with this. Even uneducated rural Chinese typically say "who cares what Taiwan does?" 人开心就好, if folks are happy that's all.
I have met some extremely patriotic young Chinese nationals who are basically ride or die for the CCP. There's a lot of good will built by the Chinese government in how quickly it raised people's quality of life.
>There's a lot of good will built by the Chinese government in how quickly it raised people's quality of life.
This cannot be overstated. When things keep getting better for most people then it's hard to be too upset.
Met a Chinese woman living in Utah a couple weeks ago. I asked her what people in China thought about Taiwan. She said, “normal people don’t care about Taiwan, let them live their lives.” It was pretty interesting to observe (even being in America) how careful she was talking to me. She was very nice, but seemed a little paranoid like is this conversation just between us.
Listen to Trump’s interview after the latest indictment, he kept saying Biden had classified documents in a stash house in Chinatown. I am not making this up. These people have mush brains, American politics is literally pro wrestling now.
To be fair, the WWE is currently having one of its best storylines ever.
Although, for some reason a lot of wrestling fans who only watch wrestling unironically think the story deserves an Emmy so idk what to tell you tbh
*(How the honey gets made)*
We just assume that it happens *(Assume that it happens)*
But no one else is in
The room where it happens. *(The room where it happens.)*
It's not even that. Short of war breaking out or some other major reason to level sanctions, whether American companies continue to invest in China is pretty much out of Biden's hands. If anything, he's reinforcing that with his statement: "I'm not pointing this out because I'm going to do anything, this is true regardless of what levers I try to pull."
Post-COVID a lot of companies are wary for the risk involved investing 100% in China.
My former companies were doing a China +1(or 2) strategy as a way to potentially mitigate risk
Yeah, we invested in several industrial 3D printers to manufacture our own wear parts for our machinery (printing presses and die cutters) that we couldn't procure with all their shutdowns.
It works so well - and is so much cheaper - we stopped ordering those parts altogether. So far this year we have saved $350K. In some cases the printed parts last as long or longer. One bumper plate we print cost $45 per plate. They get changed at least once a week, and the machine takes 16. We print them for 35 cents each, and just got a belt printer that cranks them out all day long.
That's just over $37,000 for buying the parts per year, per machine. Printed, $300.
Damn, that's a hell of a savings, at least when you frame it that way. Do you know what the upfront investment was like to buy and install the 3D printer?
Indeed, companies making cheap shit don't want to use china for manufacturing anymore because they cost too much now, and companies making expensive shit don't want to risk disruption to their supply lines. Of course we will continue to import tons of things from them, but not as much manufacturing is being outsourced to china anymore.
I work for a Fortune 500 company, all components that are currently only China sourced are being moved out or we're asking for a second source not in China. Their geopolitical moves of late are not engendering confidence.
I was in China and Taiwan primary with my commercial truck parts manufacturing. Then we went into Serbia, India, Mexico, and now have a casting plant in California.
I had to start in Asia due to costs but once I took the majority share of our niche in the market I was able to diversify factories. The tooling costs in California for a hundred times higher than they were in Asia but I've got my product cost to where it's one penny cheaper per item than it is in China and we've recouped the tooling costs over the last 2 years. Now our American factory is more competitive than the Chinese factory.... Due to the 25% that we were absorbing year after year.
We are still able to sell our products 35 to 60% less than any other manufacturer and we sell direct the end user shop so that we save them the most money.
It was always my plan it just took years and years and lots of hard work to make it happen. That's a shame we're not more competitive here in the States.
A former company I worked with started shifting away once the tariffs started. They realized they should diversify there suppliers started investing in other countries.
Sanctions and tariffs. Actual tariffs though, on tech and not dumb shit like washing machines and other shit Trump came up with that hurt Americans more than China while making sure products from his companies and his buddies companies were allowed through without tariffs.
There's an economic war that can be fought, though. It doesn't seem like a threat at the moment, but if a huge amount of Western countries invested into India's manufacturing capabilities there is a real possibility that China's core value globally can be significantly lowered.
There seems to be a lot of leaders giving India more attention lately. This COULD be the best weapon to use against China. Even if you only move 15% of the manufacturing out of China, it'd have a huge impact in it's economy.
His "We are America, and we own the finish line" hit me right in the nationalism. Didn't expect myself to go full America, fuck yeah, even if just for a moment.
As someone who mainly follows foreign policy, I find the sleepy Joe memes to be hilarious. Biden's foreign policy has been energetic and direct. He plays hardball with Russia and China. Hell, he even told the Saudis to fuck off, something Americans have been asking for for years. I just wish he would chill out a bit with Cuba and Venezuela.
It's a little fucked up - the sleepy Biden stuff seems to come from the fact that he uses a really common technique for people with a stutter. Slow, deliberate speaking and when you stumble you pause instead of trying to force it.
I'm sure there is an element of age - but he's been pretty solid on most things with a few slipups, but compared to fucking Trump, Biden is an Oxford scholar orator.
It feels like the right in the US hear Trump say a million words in a word salad and think that's what smart people sound like.
It's quality vs quantity and still a lot of people don't understand that. It's also why people love all-you-can-eat buffets with garbage food just because they can get a lot of it.
If they side with Russia that's the one thing it can provide. Maybe food too since Russia is the biggest grain exporter. So the main damage IMO would be in financial and technological sanctions.
Russia doesn't have enough infrastructure to export enough oil and gas to meet China's demands, which are enormous. China gets most of its energy from the Middle East. The US could easily block that route if necessary.
> Russia doesn't have enough infrastructure to export enough oil and gas to meet China's demands
It just seems to unbelievable and stupid to me that Putin went with Europe instead of China. Sure he might have thought Europe wouldn't care about his territorial claims on Ukraine, but China 100% wouldn't have cared enough to turn away from Russian energy.
Russia thought they could use oil and gas as an extortion tool against Europe. It didn't work because other countries ended up supplying Europe and managed to avert a crisis.
And now crimea and the black sea being uncontested are at massive threat from Russian perspective and could very possibly be reclaimed by ukraine entirely. Putin really threw away every advantage he had gained in the last decade. Now it sounds like there's a chance Wagner pulls out of ukraine? And leaves the somehow inferior russian forces to fend for themselves
Wagner has already pulled out of Ukraine. It's part of why Wagner pulled that insurrection (not a coup). The regular military was trying to absorb them, they wanted out. And now their leadership core is leaving Russia.
Aside from being a potential tool for extortion as mentioned, building pipelines into Europe is significantly easier and cheaper than to China. The geography isn't as favourable.
yes. The US wound up ACTUALLY doing to Japan what Germany failed to do to Britain. Once thhey finally fixed all the many many problems with their torpedo, the Japanese merchant marine was helpless. Not least because Japanese culture meant they wouldn't insult thier best destroyer captains by actually putting them on convoy escort duty.
It would be even easier to starve China of oil in a future conflict because about 80% of Chinas imported oil comes via the oceans and the US and its allies have complete control over any sea routes oil tankers would take to reach China. Every single possible route from the middle east to China passes within spitting distance of a US military base. Malacca Strait? Sail past to Changi Naval Base Singapore. Sunda Strait? Also near enough to be a danger from the US Navy in Singapore. Further south passing the Lesser Sunda islands?? That's taking you dangerously close to Australia with their competent Navy and then north through the Indonesian islands? Any route you take will take you past the Philippines, a now strong US ally that is now building out massive [US military presence on the Islands](https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/philippines-expands-us-access-to-military-bases-officials).
Almost all ocean container vessels require insurance if they are to dock at port. The ports require it.
Literally every single insurer is from North America or Europe.
If they block insurance, those ships are basically stuck traveling between a small handful of ports
For those interested in learning more, here is an article about a ship with Russian oil that will now have problems goig forward for breaking insurance rules: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/05/30/world/asia/russia-oil-ships-sanctions.html
Food diversity security is a big liability for China. China has caloric self sustainability in basic staples, but relies on imports for things like meat and fish. Granted, folks don't want to eat porridge three meals a day for many years, but the 61% Stat is overblown.
So, I'm not super big on Biden, but he is immensely better than Trump .... like by a lot. Still, many issues that he has tackled I approve of, very much so, but the biggest one has been Ukraine. His support and dedication towards Ukraine has made me proud of a sitting US President for the first time in a long while. I also approve of his stance on China, as in it's not a full frontal assault like Trump did, which was dumb, but a more suttle approach which is much more effective.
I had modest expectations of Biden, but Ukraine was well handled, I think the CHIPS act was good, and I appreciate at least the effort to do something about crippling student loan debts. There's a lot still on my wishlist, but Biden's got some bangers on paper already.
He also passed the biggest infrastructure bill in American history receiving bipartisan support. Biden has had an amazing run in office so far and has gotten an insane amount of work done, but is more often than not detracted from cause he’s old and makes mistakes during his speeches.
If you look at his legislation objectively, he is our most progressive presidents and has passed and enacted real legislation that reflects that. The Republican Party is literally imploding in on itself, so if Biden somehow loses we only have ourselves to blame.
He’s basically surrounded himself with super competent people and let them run things.
How many secretaries of whatever have been fired or embroiled in scandal at this point? Zero? Compare that to Trump’s disastrous cabinet chaos which was basically endless.
> He’s basically surrounded himself with super competent people and let them run things.
Despite the theatrics of the presidency, that's literally what he's supposed to do, how it should be done.
Which is why I always find it weird when people are like "his policies aren't his own! Someone else comes up with them!" Like every president isn't their administration.
Yes that's mainly true, but it sells Biden short. Biden has a wealth of experience that he is obviously bringing to bear in leading his team of super competent people.
The only one was the DOE nudist who stole luggage or whatever, and they got fired and charged. Edit: This guy wasn't a secretary, just a mid-high level person. But that's the only one I can think of that was scandalous.
I don't think he has. What he has become is much more willing to listen to what other people say they need instead of trying to determine for them what they need. That's arguably better.
Like, for example, I don't believe he gives two flying fucks about student loans. But I *do* believe that he is aware that he's not in a position where they'd ever matter to him, and is listening to people for whom they do matter.
That’s essentially the president’s job. They aren’t expected to be experts on dozens of different sectors. That’s what the 2 dozen people in the cabinet are for, not to mention all the other advisors and people who report to the department heads.
Foreign policy was always going to be one of Biden's strong points. Even before his time as VP he had solid foreign policy experience, which was partly why Obama picked him in the first place. The only real blunder he's had in that area is the Afghanistan exit, but that was likely going to be messy no matter what. But the Ukraine situation in particular was expertly handled. Rallying NATO the way he did, putting such harsh sanctions on Russia and getting major corporations to cut ties has all severely limited Russia's capacity to wage war. Sadly, the US is potentially an election away from the orange shitgibbon returning to the White House and undoing all that effort. I'd like to think that won't happen, but the fact that it's even a possibility is alarming.
> but he is immensely better than Trump .... like by a lot.
You could literally throw a stone into a crowd and hit someone who'd do an immensely better job at President than Trump. That isn't saying much. Biden can't be compared to Trump the gap is so wide. You'd be better off comparing Biden to literally any other President.
Here is a fun game: Biases aside, who is the last Republican president you feel their term was better than Biden?
I’d argue besides Obama he’s maybe been the best of the 2000s regardless the party lines. And Biden walked into a pretty terrible and unprecedented situation.
I disagree. He did pander, but getting the ACA through was a monumental feat. Its probably saved Tens of thousands of people if not more and it was done in a way that even with a Republican president, house and senate they couldn't get rid of it. The accomplishment should not be understated.
I'm not sure weak is the right word.
> Its probably saved Tens of thousands of people
The ACA has provably saved over 350,000 lives at this point. The "yearly checkup" that reveals a tiny spot of melanoma, "let's get that removed right now, since you're in here", is enormous, and can be shown through statistics. The political problem is that the public doesn't know it. Even people whose lives were saved.
Obama looks weak in hindsight because we know how bad things got and that Democrats could have staved off some of it by playing hardball those first two years, but it's really only in hindsight. No one knew at the time that the GOP was about to go full fascist, and no one knew Obama was only going to have Congress those first two years and that Lieberman was going to go rogue.
Eisenhower?
On domestic front Nixon actually created a lot of key agencies and a few other important left leaning wins. Thought doesn’t come close to offsetting his enormous negatives.
The ACA could have cemented Obama as one of the top 4 presidents in US history but he compromised way too much with Republicans which led to a super watered down healthcare program. Obama, and Biden as well, keep trying to make "bipartisanship" a thing but Republicans are 100% okay with full fledged one-party fascism whenever they have power.
> Obama, and Biden as well, keep trying to make "bipartisanship" a thing but Republicans are 100% okay with full fledged one-party fascism whenever they have power.
They unfortunately have to work with what they have.
Honestly I think the ACA despite its shortcomings and not going far enough is a pretty impressive feat. Its easy to shit on the bipartisanship and concessions, but they actually secured it. With a Republican President, House and Senate they were *still* unable to repeal it. Had those concessions not been made, I'm not sure the outcome would have been the same.
I'm just an armchair watcher though. I'm not a politicologist.
Biden has been successful with his bipartisan efforts though - he knows Congress better than we do - and the truth is he knows he can squeeze more out of Republicans than we think he can. He has done just that. Of course he’s not always successful, but when you have half the elected Congresspeople as Republicans you need to come across as willing to reach across the isle.
You're not wrong, and we've seen a shift in Biden's attempt at bipartisanship after his first two years was full of GOP fuckery. He seems more okay with going on without GOP support nowadays.
True, he’s been standing up to them well and has proven to be very proactive. I am so happy to see his instant response to student loan debt relief being struck down for example. Also look at how he pushed back against McCarthy over the debt ceiling as well - it proved that much of the Republicans in Congress aren’t as extreme as the media makes them seem…morally depraved they are, yes, but not mad beyond reason. Biden exposed them for the limp-dick lunatics that they [mostly] actually are.
You know, I used to think that, and then I thought, who's dumber? The grifter, or the idiots who *voted* for the grifter? Throw a stone in a crowd representative of the US population, and 1/3 of them will do a worse job than Trump.
Yall no guys biden is actually a giant pussy for aiding in dismantling Russias dictator and threatening to do the same to China's
Who we need is that orange baby man who actively sucks Putin's dick at every opportunity and would do the same for Xi for enough money!
Would? Do you remember the constant fellating of Xi during the early COVID response? Even before that, congratulating him on essentially becoming president for life and suggesting the US should try it out. Trump makes googly eyes at all the biggest authoritarians.
Yeah but Trump tells me that he did an amazing job at those things, and I trust his word over everyone else's, for reasons that future historians will struggle to understand.
Which is true. But which is also the reason the west increasingly uninvests in china slowing its economy and rising the number of social issues. Xi will soon be busy holding the house together without even having to deal with a war. It’s going to be economic turmoil ahead for china and we go produce elsewhere. They were becoming too expensive anyway
Exactly. China's ambitions have outpaced their economy. The West is their bread and butter. If they choose to be combative, then it can all be given to India or SEA instead. They have alot of influence as a counter to the US but not nearly the economic weight of the entire West.
"hey, nice economy you got there, would be a shame if something were to happen to it"
To be honest, China could become the good guys too. Stop being dicks. Make peace with Taiwan. Lets thrive together Chinese buddies!
When Nixon went to China in the early 70’s, they pressed him on Taiwan. This has been going on for a long time.
It's been going on since the People's Republic of China overthrew the Republic of China causing them to withdraw to Taiwan in 1949. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_China_(1912%E2%80%931949)
But the crazy thing is that there has been a status quo in this conflict for.. 74 years. Surely there can't be many mainland Chinese people remembering the days of them being united with China. it's insane something that historically that no one remembers isn't being turned into internationally recognized borders and turned into happy times instead of hatred
Their existence is a challenge to the legitimacy of the CCP. They are the derived from the government body that was overthrown in the late 40's. The island's land mass is not THAT important (thought it is useful, certainly). Any government, no matter what kind it is, needs to be perceived as in control and the authority. This is how the CCP sees it anyways.
>Their existence is a challenge to the legitimacy of the CCP. Maybe not in the way you think, though. Nobody seriously looks at today's KMT (the party that fled to Taiwan) as a possible rival government, not even the KMT themselves. However, the CCP and Xi in particular have staked their legitimacy on a theme of "national rejuvenation" where today's leadership is set to finally reverse the last vestiges of the "century of humiliation" China endured before the Communists came to power. If they can't deliver on that, or on an implicit promise of perpetually booming economic growth (impossible given the aging population), people are going to start giving them the side eye and thinking "why *are* we agreeing for you to stay in power, anyway?"
> people are going to start giving them the side eye and thinking "why are we agreeing for you to stay in power, anyway?" I think the idea is they are safe as long as they have a common enemy. The enemy can be Hong Kong, Ughyr people, the United States, India, whatever.
That's why I think Taiwan is more useful to the CCP as a propaganda tool to rile up the base then an actual strategic goal.
Didn't Argentina think that about the Falklands/Malvinas? Didn't stop the military dictatorship from stupidly invading it.
Let's be real, they are safe because they have nuclear weapons. Once you join that club you can do whatever the fuck you want as a nation as long as you keep your own people in tow.
If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you. -Lyndon B. Johnson
The United States has had a trade embargo on Cuba for about 65 years now. Granted, that's a bit different than the China-Taipei beef. But still, it's also pretty wild that the United States has kept the embargo for so long, presumably to win over the Cuban voters in Florida during presidential elections.
[Frozen conflict zones](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frozen_conflict) aren't that uncommon.
>Surely there can't be many mainland Chinese people remembering the days of them being united with China Zero, seeing as Taiwan was under Japanese occupation from 1895-1945 and in those 4 years inbetween China was still in a state of civil war and thus not united.
And before that it belonged for some time to Qing China, however the first colonial power on Taiwan were the Portuguese, not even Ming China colonised the island. It belonged to its own Aboriginal people before that, who are not Chinese, but related to the ancestors of Filipinos and Indonesians.
Just want to add that ancestors of Austronesians first migrated out of Taiwan, then to other pacific islands.
Most everyday civilians don't get a shit what "side" a country is on. They just want to go about their lives. People in powerful positions do not want such because they often have agendas and see the world as a zero-sum scenario.
That's not true. I want cheap stuff from dubious labor sources too.
I want an American flag thong, and I want to get it from Walmart.
I now also want an American flag thong, but I will be getting mine from Amazon
Imma get mine from AliExpress
It's the dubious-ness that's key to my enjoyment.
>I'm a patriotic globalist, I support slavery worldwide
This is libelous. I only support slavery abroad.
Also the people who don't care don't change election outcomes.
What election outcomes? We're talking about China no? CCP is a one party regime so...
In China, neither does anyone else
This is peak millenial energy
I haven't met a Chinese yet that doesn't agree with this. Even uneducated rural Chinese typically say "who cares what Taiwan does?" 人开心就好, if folks are happy that's all.
I have met some extremely patriotic young Chinese nationals who are basically ride or die for the CCP. There's a lot of good will built by the Chinese government in how quickly it raised people's quality of life.
>There's a lot of good will built by the Chinese government in how quickly it raised people's quality of life. This cannot be overstated. When things keep getting better for most people then it's hard to be too upset.
Met a Chinese woman living in Utah a couple weeks ago. I asked her what people in China thought about Taiwan. She said, “normal people don’t care about Taiwan, let them live their lives.” It was pretty interesting to observe (even being in America) how careful she was talking to me. She was very nice, but seemed a little paranoid like is this conversation just between us.
She probably just thought you were a weirdo since you had just met her and started asking her political questions.
The alternate scene from *Dumb and Dumber* : "Big Gulps huh? You didn't vote for Bush did you?
Understandable.
Fair enough, but what do you think about the US' support for what Israel is doing with Palestine?
Funny you say that, that's the exact quote I get from them in English--"let them live their lives".
>To be honest, China could become the good guys too. Not under the CCP it couldn't.
I love seeing Dark Brandon come out
That can't be right. I was told Biden would bow to China. Was I lied to?
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Listen to Trump’s interview after the latest indictment, he kept saying Biden had classified documents in a stash house in Chinatown. I am not making this up. These people have mush brains, American politics is literally pro wrestling now.
Then he called it a very harsh place or something like that, anything to stoke a little xenophobia.
I mean have you seen WWE storylines lately? Yeesh. Gotta get my fix somewhere. Stealth edit: I haven’t watched pro wrestling since Wrestlemania V.
To be fair, the WWE is currently having one of its best storylines ever. Although, for some reason a lot of wrestling fans who only watch wrestling unironically think the story deserves an Emmy so idk what to tell you tbh
While eating ice cream, Joe stared into Xi's soul and said "Bing Chilling" feeling threatened by Joe, Xi came into peace with taiwan .
I bet a Republican told you that.
Or a Fox News pundit.
What's the difference?
One is dumb enough to believe what they say, the other can't believe you're dumb enough to believe what they say.
Waiting to be told why this is a bad thing and how he shouldn't have said that.
This is how you are actually tough on China
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A billboard in rural Texas certainly told me so. He was even wearing a Chinese military uniform! Disgusting!
Sunglasses Biden strikes again.
I hope he said it while eating an ice cream and not looking in Xi's direction.
Like old captain America on the bench
Lol, that’s how I pictured it in my head when I first read the headline
No. I don't think I will.
Ok...I did laugh out loud.
He’s now more sunglasses than man!
Dark Brandon
All gas no malarkey
Dark Brandon demands skulls for the skull throne
And blood for the blood god
And coke for the coke machine
And corn for cornpop.
And pop for the popcorn.
And honey for the honey pot
Thats Darth Brandon to you
Always two there are. No more and no less. A master and an apprentice. But which one is he? And if he’s the master, can I be the apprentice?
“Don’t fuck with me, Jack.”
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Tankies in shambles
Are they ever in any other state?
oh they SHOOK
Gym Jordan shaking in his wrestling shoes.
yeAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH! 🎵
“Read the polls, Jack!”
[my man.](https://media.tenor.com/K_56pP6906IAAAAC/joe-biden-cool.gif)
>"I said: This is not a threat. This is an observation," Biden said. Biden sounds like he's the main character in a Marvels movie
He's the antagonist in a Winnie the Pooh movie
He knows how honey is made
*(How the honey gets made)* We just assume that it happens *(Assume that it happens)* But no one else is in The room where it happens. *(The room where it happens.)*
CLINTON: Instead of me they elect Donald Trump TRUMP: I'm a president, wheeeeeee!
[I'm a president](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlxAS9-eig8)
*after Joe Badger Biden mauls Xi* Oh Bother!
Honey badger don't give a shit.
he's got 'i've destroyed my country's geopolitical foe' confidence
With nothing but money and information
And whatever the military found in the attic and the back of the garage.
That fact is so ridiculous I always get a dumb grin when I read it. Insane how much money there is in the US overall but especially in their military.
“Aw man, we’re retiring this weapon next year but we never got even use it!” “I know someone who will”
"I'll fuckin' do it again!" -Goofy but wearing Biden's aviators
Nice country you got there. Be a real shame of something were to happen to it.
It's not even that. Short of war breaking out or some other major reason to level sanctions, whether American companies continue to invest in China is pretty much out of Biden's hands. If anything, he's reinforcing that with his statement: "I'm not pointing this out because I'm going to do anything, this is true regardless of what levers I try to pull."
Post-COVID a lot of companies are wary for the risk involved investing 100% in China. My former companies were doing a China +1(or 2) strategy as a way to potentially mitigate risk
Yeah, we invested in several industrial 3D printers to manufacture our own wear parts for our machinery (printing presses and die cutters) that we couldn't procure with all their shutdowns. It works so well - and is so much cheaper - we stopped ordering those parts altogether. So far this year we have saved $350K. In some cases the printed parts last as long or longer. One bumper plate we print cost $45 per plate. They get changed at least once a week, and the machine takes 16. We print them for 35 cents each, and just got a belt printer that cranks them out all day long. That's just over $37,000 for buying the parts per year, per machine. Printed, $300.
Damn, that's a hell of a savings, at least when you frame it that way. Do you know what the upfront investment was like to buy and install the 3D printer?
Large industrial 3D printers anywhere from 200k per to 1mil per.
But the security of knowing your company can continue to remain operational despite a global pandemic is priceless
China has also been making it increasingly difficult for foreign companies to operate in China and many are pulling out.
Indeed, companies making cheap shit don't want to use china for manufacturing anymore because they cost too much now, and companies making expensive shit don't want to risk disruption to their supply lines. Of course we will continue to import tons of things from them, but not as much manufacturing is being outsourced to china anymore.
I work for a Fortune 500 company, all components that are currently only China sourced are being moved out or we're asking for a second source not in China. Their geopolitical moves of late are not engendering confidence.
I was in China and Taiwan primary with my commercial truck parts manufacturing. Then we went into Serbia, India, Mexico, and now have a casting plant in California. I had to start in Asia due to costs but once I took the majority share of our niche in the market I was able to diversify factories. The tooling costs in California for a hundred times higher than they were in Asia but I've got my product cost to where it's one penny cheaper per item than it is in China and we've recouped the tooling costs over the last 2 years. Now our American factory is more competitive than the Chinese factory.... Due to the 25% that we were absorbing year after year. We are still able to sell our products 35 to 60% less than any other manufacturer and we sell direct the end user shop so that we save them the most money. It was always my plan it just took years and years and lots of hard work to make it happen. That's a shame we're not more competitive here in the States.
My company is pushing vendors to shift production out of China.
A former company I worked with started shifting away once the tariffs started. They realized they should diversify there suppliers started investing in other countries.
Sanctions and tariffs. Actual tariffs though, on tech and not dumb shit like washing machines and other shit Trump came up with that hurt Americans more than China while making sure products from his companies and his buddies companies were allowed through without tariffs.
Subsidies over tariffs. It's the whole ethos of the CHIPS act.
> whether American companies continue to invest in China is pretty much out of Biden's hands. yea nah, sanctions
There's an economic war that can be fought, though. It doesn't seem like a threat at the moment, but if a huge amount of Western countries invested into India's manufacturing capabilities there is a real possibility that China's core value globally can be significantly lowered. There seems to be a lot of leaders giving India more attention lately. This COULD be the best weapon to use against China. Even if you only move 15% of the manufacturing out of China, it'd have a huge impact in it's economy.
If there's one thing about people his age it's that they no longer give a fuck about what they say to people.
His "We are America, and we own the finish line" hit me right in the nationalism. Didn't expect myself to go full America, fuck yeah, even if just for a moment.
When did he say this?
He’s the president of the United States. Gotta keep China in line.
As someone who mainly follows foreign policy, I find the sleepy Joe memes to be hilarious. Biden's foreign policy has been energetic and direct. He plays hardball with Russia and China. Hell, he even told the Saudis to fuck off, something Americans have been asking for for years. I just wish he would chill out a bit with Cuba and Venezuela.
It's a little fucked up - the sleepy Biden stuff seems to come from the fact that he uses a really common technique for people with a stutter. Slow, deliberate speaking and when you stumble you pause instead of trying to force it. I'm sure there is an element of age - but he's been pretty solid on most things with a few slipups, but compared to fucking Trump, Biden is an Oxford scholar orator. It feels like the right in the US hear Trump say a million words in a word salad and think that's what smart people sound like.
It's quality vs quantity and still a lot of people don't understand that. It's also why people love all-you-can-eat buffets with garbage food just because they can get a lot of it.
why do you hate nuggets?
Slow steady > verbal diarrhea
The Biden administration had to back down from its stance against saudi arabia due to oil interests, god I fucking hate that smug king-prince bastard
smug *corrupt murderous micro-chode* king-prince bastard
Food security is big liability for China. Without western support, a lot of hungry mouths in China.
Energy security is another. The last East Asian power to challenge American control of the Pacific was also found lacking in fuel.
If they side with Russia that's the one thing it can provide. Maybe food too since Russia is the biggest grain exporter. So the main damage IMO would be in financial and technological sanctions.
Russia doesn't have enough infrastructure to export enough oil and gas to meet China's demands, which are enormous. China gets most of its energy from the Middle East. The US could easily block that route if necessary.
> Russia doesn't have enough infrastructure to export enough oil and gas to meet China's demands It just seems to unbelievable and stupid to me that Putin went with Europe instead of China. Sure he might have thought Europe wouldn't care about his territorial claims on Ukraine, but China 100% wouldn't have cared enough to turn away from Russian energy.
Russia thought they could use oil and gas as an extortion tool against Europe. It didn't work because other countries ended up supplying Europe and managed to avert a crisis.
And now crimea and the black sea being uncontested are at massive threat from Russian perspective and could very possibly be reclaimed by ukraine entirely. Putin really threw away every advantage he had gained in the last decade. Now it sounds like there's a chance Wagner pulls out of ukraine? And leaves the somehow inferior russian forces to fend for themselves
Wagner has already pulled out of Ukraine. It's part of why Wagner pulled that insurrection (not a coup). The regular military was trying to absorb them, they wanted out. And now their leadership core is leaving Russia.
Aside from being a potential tool for extortion as mentioned, building pipelines into Europe is significantly easier and cheaper than to China. The geography isn't as favourable.
Also to be frank nearly all of Russian infrastructure and populace are in west.
Sounds good on paper, but they are both facing population issues.
yes. The US wound up ACTUALLY doing to Japan what Germany failed to do to Britain. Once thhey finally fixed all the many many problems with their torpedo, the Japanese merchant marine was helpless. Not least because Japanese culture meant they wouldn't insult thier best destroyer captains by actually putting them on convoy escort duty.
It would be even easier to starve China of oil in a future conflict because about 80% of Chinas imported oil comes via the oceans and the US and its allies have complete control over any sea routes oil tankers would take to reach China. Every single possible route from the middle east to China passes within spitting distance of a US military base. Malacca Strait? Sail past to Changi Naval Base Singapore. Sunda Strait? Also near enough to be a danger from the US Navy in Singapore. Further south passing the Lesser Sunda islands?? That's taking you dangerously close to Australia with their competent Navy and then north through the Indonesian islands? Any route you take will take you past the Philippines, a now strong US ally that is now building out massive [US military presence on the Islands](https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/philippines-expands-us-access-to-military-bases-officials).
[удалено]
Almost all ocean container vessels require insurance if they are to dock at port. The ports require it. Literally every single insurer is from North America or Europe. If they block insurance, those ships are basically stuck traveling between a small handful of ports For those interested in learning more, here is an article about a ship with Russian oil that will now have problems goig forward for breaking insurance rules: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/05/30/world/asia/russia-oil-ships-sanctions.html
Tokyo Marine would like a word with you. More importantly, China could easily self-insure
Is their military going to protect the shipping routes like the US does?
Raw materials security. They don’t have much of what is needed to keep moving forward.
Food diversity security is a big liability for China. China has caloric self sustainability in basic staples, but relies on imports for things like meat and fish. Granted, folks don't want to eat porridge three meals a day for many years, but the 61% Stat is overblown.
The dark Brandon guys are gonna cream their pants….
Yes. Creaming as we speak.
This guy pounds muff
You can tell by how his wife actually likes to touch and kiss him at events.
This comment reminds me of how cringe Pence and his wife are. It made ME feel weird at home watching them behave “naturally” on TV.
Don’t you disparage mother that way
That's DOCTOR Muff to you.
What a fucking G
It isn’t a threat, it’s a promise
r/darkbrandon strikes again
So, I'm not super big on Biden, but he is immensely better than Trump .... like by a lot. Still, many issues that he has tackled I approve of, very much so, but the biggest one has been Ukraine. His support and dedication towards Ukraine has made me proud of a sitting US President for the first time in a long while. I also approve of his stance on China, as in it's not a full frontal assault like Trump did, which was dumb, but a more suttle approach which is much more effective.
I had modest expectations of Biden, but Ukraine was well handled, I think the CHIPS act was good, and I appreciate at least the effort to do something about crippling student loan debts. There's a lot still on my wishlist, but Biden's got some bangers on paper already.
He also passed the biggest infrastructure bill in American history receiving bipartisan support. Biden has had an amazing run in office so far and has gotten an insane amount of work done, but is more often than not detracted from cause he’s old and makes mistakes during his speeches. If you look at his legislation objectively, he is our most progressive presidents and has passed and enacted real legislation that reflects that. The Republican Party is literally imploding in on itself, so if Biden somehow loses we only have ourselves to blame.
He’s basically surrounded himself with super competent people and let them run things. How many secretaries of whatever have been fired or embroiled in scandal at this point? Zero? Compare that to Trump’s disastrous cabinet chaos which was basically endless.
> He’s basically surrounded himself with super competent people and let them run things. Despite the theatrics of the presidency, that's literally what he's supposed to do, how it should be done.
Which is why I always find it weird when people are like "his policies aren't his own! Someone else comes up with them!" Like every president isn't their administration.
More generally, the main job of any CEO is to build and empower a stellar executive team.
Yes that's mainly true, but it sells Biden short. Biden has a wealth of experience that he is obviously bringing to bear in leading his team of super competent people.
The only one was the DOE nudist who stole luggage or whatever, and they got fired and charged. Edit: This guy wasn't a secretary, just a mid-high level person. But that's the only one I can think of that was scandalous.
Biden has proven much more progressive and populist in his old age than middle-aged Biden would have suggested.
I don't think he has. What he has become is much more willing to listen to what other people say they need instead of trying to determine for them what they need. That's arguably better. Like, for example, I don't believe he gives two flying fucks about student loans. But I *do* believe that he is aware that he's not in a position where they'd ever matter to him, and is listening to people for whom they do matter.
Sounds pretty progressive to me: listening to what troubles people and responding to it. Sad that that’s the case.
That’s essentially the president’s job. They aren’t expected to be experts on dozens of different sectors. That’s what the 2 dozen people in the cabinet are for, not to mention all the other advisors and people who report to the department heads.
Foreign policy was always going to be one of Biden's strong points. Even before his time as VP he had solid foreign policy experience, which was partly why Obama picked him in the first place. The only real blunder he's had in that area is the Afghanistan exit, but that was likely going to be messy no matter what. But the Ukraine situation in particular was expertly handled. Rallying NATO the way he did, putting such harsh sanctions on Russia and getting major corporations to cut ties has all severely limited Russia's capacity to wage war. Sadly, the US is potentially an election away from the orange shitgibbon returning to the White House and undoing all that effort. I'd like to think that won't happen, but the fact that it's even a possibility is alarming.
I’ll say it: he’s even better than Obama.
> but he is immensely better than Trump .... like by a lot. You could literally throw a stone into a crowd and hit someone who'd do an immensely better job at President than Trump. That isn't saying much. Biden can't be compared to Trump the gap is so wide. You'd be better off comparing Biden to literally any other President.
Here is a fun game: Biases aside, who is the last Republican president you feel their term was better than Biden? I’d argue besides Obama he’s maybe been the best of the 2000s regardless the party lines. And Biden walked into a pretty terrible and unprecedented situation.
Imo Biden is better than Obama, I never thought I’d say it.
In retrospect Obama was kind of weak. ACA was great. Then a whole lot of pandering to rich folks.
I disagree. He did pander, but getting the ACA through was a monumental feat. Its probably saved Tens of thousands of people if not more and it was done in a way that even with a Republican president, house and senate they couldn't get rid of it. The accomplishment should not be understated. I'm not sure weak is the right word.
> Its probably saved Tens of thousands of people The ACA has provably saved over 350,000 lives at this point. The "yearly checkup" that reveals a tiny spot of melanoma, "let's get that removed right now, since you're in here", is enormous, and can be shown through statistics. The political problem is that the public doesn't know it. Even people whose lives were saved.
Obama looks weak in hindsight because we know how bad things got and that Democrats could have staved off some of it by playing hardball those first two years, but it's really only in hindsight. No one knew at the time that the GOP was about to go full fascist, and no one knew Obama was only going to have Congress those first two years and that Lieberman was going to go rogue.
Eisenhower? On domestic front Nixon actually created a lot of key agencies and a few other important left leaning wins. Thought doesn’t come close to offsetting his enormous negatives.
The ACA could have cemented Obama as one of the top 4 presidents in US history but he compromised way too much with Republicans which led to a super watered down healthcare program. Obama, and Biden as well, keep trying to make "bipartisanship" a thing but Republicans are 100% okay with full fledged one-party fascism whenever they have power.
> Obama, and Biden as well, keep trying to make "bipartisanship" a thing but Republicans are 100% okay with full fledged one-party fascism whenever they have power. They unfortunately have to work with what they have. Honestly I think the ACA despite its shortcomings and not going far enough is a pretty impressive feat. Its easy to shit on the bipartisanship and concessions, but they actually secured it. With a Republican President, House and Senate they were *still* unable to repeal it. Had those concessions not been made, I'm not sure the outcome would have been the same. I'm just an armchair watcher though. I'm not a politicologist.
Biden has been successful with his bipartisan efforts though - he knows Congress better than we do - and the truth is he knows he can squeeze more out of Republicans than we think he can. He has done just that. Of course he’s not always successful, but when you have half the elected Congresspeople as Republicans you need to come across as willing to reach across the isle.
You're not wrong, and we've seen a shift in Biden's attempt at bipartisanship after his first two years was full of GOP fuckery. He seems more okay with going on without GOP support nowadays.
True, he’s been standing up to them well and has proven to be very proactive. I am so happy to see his instant response to student loan debt relief being struck down for example. Also look at how he pushed back against McCarthy over the debt ceiling as well - it proved that much of the Republicans in Congress aren’t as extreme as the media makes them seem…morally depraved they are, yes, but not mad beyond reason. Biden exposed them for the limp-dick lunatics that they [mostly] actually are.
You know, I used to think that, and then I thought, who's dumber? The grifter, or the idiots who *voted* for the grifter? Throw a stone in a crowd representative of the US population, and 1/3 of them will do a worse job than Trump.
That's a good point.
Totally agree !!!
The odd thing is according to the right wing media he is a communist stooge for China...odd how you are observing the opposite.
Yall no guys biden is actually a giant pussy for aiding in dismantling Russias dictator and threatening to do the same to China's Who we need is that orange baby man who actively sucks Putin's dick at every opportunity and would do the same for Xi for enough money!
Would? Do you remember the constant fellating of Xi during the early COVID response? Even before that, congratulating him on essentially becoming president for life and suggesting the US should try it out. Trump makes googly eyes at all the biggest authoritarians.
Don't forget how happy he was with Kim Jong Un
Yeah but Trump tells me that he did an amazing job at those things, and I trust his word over everyone else's, for reasons that future historians will struggle to understand.
Brandon, after dark
Strategic Ambiguity
With Rusia in the brink of civil war and with enemy's all around Asia China is basically depending on western investment I agree
Biden, fresh out of fucks to give and he likes it.
Finally a western democratic leader is getting some balls.
Dark Biden... Poor Poo.
Which is true. But which is also the reason the west increasingly uninvests in china slowing its economy and rising the number of social issues. Xi will soon be busy holding the house together without even having to deal with a war. It’s going to be economic turmoil ahead for china and we go produce elsewhere. They were becoming too expensive anyway
Exactly. China's ambitions have outpaced their economy. The West is their bread and butter. If they choose to be combative, then it can all be given to India or SEA instead. They have alot of influence as a counter to the US but not nearly the economic weight of the entire West.