Coup in China

Hardly an expert in China or Chinese politics but I did want to put down what I've seen about the reported coup attempt in China in a single place to see if the information somehow makes more sense. How does what happened in China effect the rest of the world?

Was it a coup or a purge? What information to trust? You decide,

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share,

- Donating blood is good for you. (HT Tim Ferriss)

- Illegal immigrant released by Biden administration charged with killing Georgia grandmother.

- Taiwan signs $44 billion deal to purchase LNG from Alaska. They saw how the partnership with the US brings US military protection from Russia and they want the same against China.

- Many a truth is said in jest.

More Linky Links

More stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- VDH: MAGA agonistes. Good summation of the many hurdles Donald Trump faces in his second term but I'd argue some of these have already been cleared. (HT Steve Layman)

- Pelosi's Taiwan effect. Something that should not be overlooked.

- First Luca was traded - now De'Aaron Fox to San  Antonio.

- Michael Wade: The Career Manifesto.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and wanted to share.

- Niall Ferguson and the Adam Smith House speech.

- CMD Salamander on where is Taiwan's Cherbourg? Admit to being largely ignorant of this bit of D-Day history.

- Cool - a free collection of digital classical and modern art.

- I want one

More Linky Links

More stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Georgia declines invitation to Biden White House. Feel free to blame either politics or incompetence.

- Heh Heh. (HT Some It's Just as Well)

- Niall Ferguson on Cold War II and the potential war over Taiwan. Really worth your time (as Niall Ferguson always is).

- RIP Metaverse. Argument says AI has killed the Metaverse. I'd argue that it was stillborn to begin with.

More Linky Links

More stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Matt Taibbi's Twitter Files #19 - The Great Covid-19 Lie Machine - Stanford, the Virality Project and the Censorship of "True Stories"

- Great story that explains why Jack Nicholson was always loyal to Paramount head Robert Evans. (Via)

- Carpenters do use strange ways to measure stuff. Or is this a reference to the movie Clerks?

- Why China appears ready to go to war with the US over Taiwan

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Heh Heh 

- Morgan Housel on Selfish Writing. This entire blog, all 17 years of it, could be considered selfish writing.

- Austin Bay - Time for the Taiwan Porcupine to Bristle

- Heh Heh

U.S. Missiles Sent to Ukraine Aren’t Easily Replaced

Holy crap! This should be bigger news. "The United States has shipped about a third of its existing arsenal of Stinger anti-air and Javelin anti-armor missiles to Ukraine - systems that are not quickly replaced."   The Stinger production line is actually shut down (as of this article's posting in April).

Even with the Javelin, we are probably five years' away from replenishing that stock despite its manufacturing line remaining open.

This is a potential disaster waiting to happen. What if the War in Ukraine continues to drag on and then the Chinese invade Taiwan? Logistically we'd be screwed because someone prioritized green policies and 87,000 more IRS agents? Screw that! Use Title 3 of the Defense Production Act now. 

The military would be much better served worrying more about their missile stockpiles than their correct pronouns.

Alternate History - USSR vs China

We often engage in historical "what if's" such as "what if Robert E. Lee had won at Gettysburg?" Or "what if Hitler had never opened a second front against Russia in WWII?"

This post about Communist China got me thinking once again about one of my favorite historical "what if's" - "what if Nixon had never gone to China?"

Most forget but in 1969 Russia and China were very close to an all-out war. According to Henry Kissinger, it was this fact that spurred much of the US's policies towards both countries with Nixon supporting China because he "decided that it was against American national interest to have China defeated." The side benefit of such a strategy, again according to Kissinger, was that "the opening to China facilitated the opening to Moscow and vice versa."

The first few years after the opening to China the biggest fear on the part of the Chinese was still an attack from Russia which made the nascent relationship with the US all the more important as a counterbalance against Soviet aggression. But, again, what if Nixon had never made the opening to China and instead allowed a conflict between Russia and China to play out?

I'm convinced the US followed the correct policy in the late 20th century of standing on the sidelines as the Iran-Iraq war played out with both sides fighting each other to a bloody standstill. What if we had done the same here? I'm guessing that Russia would have initially had the upper hand but the sheer numbers of the Chinese could have bled Russia white the way they later were in Afghanistan in the 1980's.

With both sides focusing their country's resources on each other there also would have been little or no support for either North Vietnam or North Korea. The history of both of those nations also could have been vastly different. We may even have had a unified Korea today as a result.

Taiwan, aka the Republic of China, could been allowed to grow and prosper in relative security with US arms and the protection of the US Navy. A strong Taiwan might have even been positioned to pick up the pieces from a failed Communist China after the shooting war ended.

Instead we have our current situation.

Of course another "what if" that has to be considered is what if the USSR was losing so much men and material that they decided it would be easier to just nuke Beijing? That's a "what if" that doesn't have such rosy outcomes.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- College athletes getting NIL money will also have to deal with another reality - taxes. And once again - if the income the college athletes make is taxable - why is the money the schools earn off sports non-taxable?

- "This is true and every honest person knows it." - Tucker Carlson

- Will China invade Taiwan? (HT Isegoria)

- Pantsdrunk - you learn a new word every day.

- Does Ben Roethlisberger have a tell? (HT Newmark's Door)

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Agree 100% - President Trump should formally recognize Taiwan before he leaves office.

- Slashing big tech's Gordian Knot. Also agree 100% that we must eliminate Section 230 as it pertains to big tech. (HT American Digest) 

- How women play the kazoo (you'll never hear the song America the Beautiful quite the same again).

- A Game Designer's Analysis of QAnon. Interesting but long read. I would not be surprised that QAnon is an elaborate prank that got out of hand.

Linky Links

 Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Department of Energy invests $72 million in Carbon Capture technologies.

- Interesting point. How the MSM creates headaches for the Democrats. I know a number of life-long Democrats who are completely turned off by Antifa and the AOC-type radicals in the party. They'll be voting for Trump.

- US moving towards closer economic ties to Taiwan. China not happy about it (Boo Hoo).

- I was in charge of the deck chairs on the Titanic, and they absolutely did need rearranging.

- Pentagon report: China amassing arsenal of anti-satellite weapons. Don't get too dependent on your GPS

- Who would have thought that peace in the middle-East would get so little attention?.

China

There's going to be a reckoning with China when this is all over. I'm not a big fan of boycotts but I would be in favor of requiring any goods where 50% of the item is manufactured in China having to be labeled as Made in China. Let the people decide.

Even if the item is much cheaper than a comparable item - I think many would opt for the item that wasn't Made in China.

And some name brand company's who have opted for having their goods manufactured in China may face a backlash. And I'm pretty sure their marketing people know this. That's why I'd give US based manufacturers a 1-year window to move their manufacturing (back to the USA would be optimal) or perhaps a 2-year window for electronics as long as a credible plan is in place.

Wuhan is in Hubei Province and it has been reported that when this virus was first detected in Wuhan the Chinese government banned travel from Hubei Province to the rest of China. But they did not ban travel from Hubei Province to the rest of the world! That's pretty damning proof of how the Communist Chinese government gave two shits about the health and welfare of the other nations of the world.

I think one of the first steps once we are out of quarantine would be a Free Trade Agreement with Taiwan. That would be a shot across China's bow.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

I have a solar reflex which means sometimes when I go outside just seeing the sun makes me sneeze. Used to be I'd sneeze (into my handkerchief or arm) and people would say "Gesundheit" or "God bless you" but now they look at me like I'm wearing a Hitler mustache instead... The George Carlin Germ Theory: Because now more than ever... Sometime the cliche "It's not the size of the dog in the fight that matters it's the size of the fight in the dog" does not apply. This would be one of those times... Remember those Chatty Cathy dolls that had a string you'd pull and they would speak. Or Woody from Toy Story? For a long time I've thought it would be cool to have a Rodney Dangerfield or Mitch Hedberg doll where you'd pull the string and get a one-liner joke from the doll. Would make a great gift or party conversations starter... When the worst is behind us I would fully support President Trump signing a free trade agreement with Taiwan. It would be mostly symbolic as there are very few trade barriers between our two countries but the message would be loud and clear. National Review recently had an article about this but as strong as the column started off it eventually veered off to complaints of Trump pulling out of the TPP and other Never Trump nitpicking...

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- How history will look back at 2020

- Was a fan of Toledo coach Jason Candle before this but now even more so.

- Good for Taiwan

- If you are home schooling a kindergarten student why not let Richard Pryor help them learn the ABC's 

- Good advice for 1099 employees from Mark Cuban

- Naval Knowledge

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- The danger of returning to the nuclear deal with Iran. Excellent video worth your time.

- Speaking of Iran - I laughed way too much at this.

- This re-election ad for Taiwanese President Tsai is very powerful.

- And speaking of Taiwan and President Tsai - this is also well worth your time.

- And just like that Alex Cora is out as Red Sox manager.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing  and thought I'd share.

- Fight or flight may be in our bones.

- Heh Heh

- Why the US defends Taiwan. The "other" China often gets overlooked.

- This can't be unseen.

- Australia concludes that China was behind cyber attack on parliament and political parties. It bugs me that the Chinese think they can get away with such attacks.

- Awesome!

- Telcom with ties to Chinese government misdirects Internet traffic for two and a half years. See what I mean.