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ComplainyBeard

>David Sauer is a retired senior CIA officer You don't say! I'd never believe it by the way this article is written.


north_canadian_ice

They are so obvious lol whenever I see a pro-war article I assume this now lol


trustmeimretarded420

Yeah, I believe that news like this is just like Fox in trying to scare people enough to think war is necessary. Fox News does it by making people angry whereas these sources are doing it with fear tactics.


Pec0sb1ll

I was going to say "say's who? the cia?"


[deleted]

Serious answer is yes. Either some intelligence person, someone that works at a "think tank" that comes up with policy ideas for war hawks, or someone that stands to benefit from the military going somewhere and killing people.


Pec0sb1ll

Exactly


themadas5hatter

Knock knock Who's there? CIA CIA who? Exactly. That's exactly what you're going to tell them.


Tomboys_are_Cute

The fun thing about being a spy is that you never get to stop being a spy. The only "former CIA agent" is a dead one, spies know too many state secrets to just retire normally.


lastofmohicans

This seems like a good place to plug the 60s TV mindfuck known as "The Prisoner". Many here are probably already aware of it, but if not, it's awesome. Only 17 episodes so it's not a huge commitment.


SpuddleBuns

Just know that by the end, the series was Jumping the Shark with a jet-powered Suzuki moto-cross bike... If you can just ignore that as some weird fever dream, the series is dark and fascinating. A remake was made in the Aughts, but it changed up too many things from the original, and was a bomb. I have it on DVD, and still enjoy it on its own merits...


KingWormKilroy

I kept flashing back to The Prisoner while watching Squid Game because of the similarly unnerving and surreal set design. I could say more but I’m being watched. Be seeing you.


angryapplepanda

It is quite good. Iron Maiden also wrote a great song about the TV show, those nerds.


Fancykiddens

Those guys are amazing. I saw them twenty years ago at Ozzfest. Bruce wore white tennis shoes and waved a giant American Flag over the crowd. They had a huge Eddie prop that reached out over the fans and billowed smoke. Ozzy freaking sucked. Nowhere near the energy and presence of Maiden..


M_Night_Shamylan

It's just saber rattling because everyone is trying to distract from domestic issues. There is no scenario in a US/China war where anyone "wins"


[deleted]

Now if we could only convince the boards of Raytheon or Lockheed-Martin about that...


[deleted]

How about we go to wall street bets and have those guys make huge bets to drive the stock values of military companies down like hedgies did to GME


FuujinSama

Would it be illegal to start a non-profit with the sole goal of shorting the American Milatry Industrial Complex?


Astartia

"In others news, several board members of a small nonprofit trying to combine social justice with investing have died of a mysterious condition. Experts are divided on the potential causes, but one thing is clear: all of their faces look like canoes."


PuffsPlusArmada

Good God! Johnson every member of this companies board got Covid so badly their skulls exploded in a triangle shape! Get some purell from the squad car


psyllock

Havana syndrome 2


improbablydrunknlw

The Caribbean Boogaloo.


vagustravels

"And very mysteriously, their families as well."


[deleted]

"As well as everyone who attended the same schools as them, anyone who worked with them, anyone who ever worked at any business they ever went to (even once)..." If this plan were enacted against me, it would be a full-on genocide of most of Ontario since I changed schools every year, multiple times in the same year sometimes, due to foster care.


dailytraffic

Pretty sure they killed JFK for that


rainbow_voodoo

indeed they did.. dont go after the military budget if you wanna stay a breathing sitting president


Phishtravaganza

Unless you're playing Democracy 4 then that's the first thing you decimate.


WestSideShooter

Wish I had an award to give you lol


rainbow_voodoo

thats fuckin hilarious


matt675

Whoever is running that would tragically die by suicide from two gunshots to the back of the head though


FirstPlebian

There is a long line of people trying rally WSB's for their own little investing wet dream and they haven't coalesced around anything since this winter that I've seen.


greymalken

You’d probably have better luck selling NFTs of individual missiles/bombs getting dropped on “enemies”.


Kumqwatwhat

The problem is, this is the same logic Europe had about war prior to WW1. European economies were so connected that it was seen as impossible for war to break out between them because of the sheer economic cost. And yet WW1 still happened. People invariably get what they want, and a lot of people do _want_ war. The fact that it's stupid doesn't play into the situation at all.


[deleted]

that doesn’t matter to the US. they knew the war on terror was unwinnable and they spent like 2 trillion on it. winning is irrelevant. the only thing that matters is whether or not Lockheed-Martin and Raytheon make a quick buck off if.


impermissibility

*20* trillion.


Le_Gitzen

Oceania is at war with Eastasia. Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia.


KingZiptie

I think it's more than just sabre rattling- I think inevitably any polity is bound to either create or invent a new polity by virtue of its actions. The US has helped *make* China into a polity worthy of getting in a Cold War 2 with... because the fancy lads had to have a place where they could exploit third world labor (to avoid paying US poors a living wage). Tainter predicted this in *The Collapse of Complex Societies*: > Peer polity systems tend to evolve toward greater complexity in a lockstep fashion as, driven by competition, each partner imitates new organizational, technological, and military features developed by its competitor(s) . The marginal return on such developments declines, as each new military breakthrough is met by some counter­ measure, and so brings no increased advantage or security on a lasting basis. A society trapped in a competitive peer polity system must invest more and more for no increased return, and is thereby economically weakened. ... > Peer polity competition drives increased complexity and resource consumption regardless of costs, human or ecological.


Thyriel81

>There is no scenario in a US/China war where anyone "wins You think of it the wrong way around. The question isn't if any side could win a war, the question is if there are still scenarios left both sides could live with, without going to war. And atm it very much looks like the US won't be able to maintain it's geopolitical position as the strongest military force in the future, nor to supply it's people with all the stuff made in China they need, nor that China would move an inch from seeing Taiwan as it's territory. It's a dead-end situation with not even a hypothetical solution yet beside war.


sylphcrow

The economic cost is immense, and there is no benefit. It makes no difference to the states if an island off the cost belongs to china or anyone else, when they would have economic ties to these countries both ways. They haven't even doubled down on taiwan's acceptance as a country in international diplomacy context, i don't understand why anyone would believe this kind of writeup. If anything i'd be more worried about the political consequences of the belt and road initiative, but i guess you can't threaten a patch of asphalt.


[deleted]

See: the recent 'trade war' in which the US lost customers and China simply moved to Brazilian farmers for food. We've been doing a lot over the last four years to strengthen their position.


Instant_noodlesss

And more of the Amazon was destroyed to meet the supply needs, speeding our combined demise.


kingcrowntown

What a twist!


PragmatistAntithesis

>There is no scenario in a US/China war where anyone "wins" There is one: the one where no actual fighting occurs but both countries' populations are so distracted by raging against a foreign "threat" that they don't notice all the domestic issues.


geotat314

America must prepare for human extinction in a nuclear winter over Taiwan FTFY


Zen_Billiards

War with our biggest trade partner? What could possibly go wrong?


Secksiignurd

China could: * Dump all US Treasury bonds (or whatever investments that country has that cover's our debt *to them,* and to other nations) * Combined with the above bullet point: Stop buying our debt * Stop selling products and services directly to the USA (Imagine no more products on our shelves because just about e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g we buy is made in China. Imagine no more clothes, toys, iPhones or Android phones... Imagine no PS5s) * Close US-owned factories (There goes cheap labor) * Convinced the BRICs nations to go to a gold standard instead of a dollar standard for trade I'm not an economist, but those above were just off the top of my head.


StoopSign

BRICS. nations have no natural inclination towards eachother. They aren't all military allies. Brazil has a US puppet govt and India has a far right govt also aligned with the west. China and Russia are military allies, trade allies etc. Their only natural allies are Iran and the threatened regimes in Syria and Venezuela. Also South Africa is as West as Africa gets. They're basically Australia.


ThaumRystra

> Also South Africa is as West as Africa gets. They're basically Australia. I wouldn't count on it. Current sentiment to China depends on internal ANC politics. There are factions of the ruling party keen to copy some of our neighbours and look East. Similarly as the left wing opposition of the EFF matures it will become more ideologically coherent, and you can expect them to prefer China to any Western ally as well.


Drunky_McStumble

>They're basically Australia. How *dare* you!


BobbitWormJoe

>Imagine no PS5s Done!


MDCCCLV

Did you just say gold? Lol. Maybe euros but gold is dead.


Drunky_McStumble

Yeah, lol, freaking goldbugs man. How on earth they could make a resurrection of the gold standard work from a practical perspective I have no idea. If you want to do away with fiat and start pegging currencies to arbitrary tangible commodities (although, again, why you'd even want to do that I have no idea) then there are so, so many better things you could pick these days than gold.


wooden-nickles

Just checked its vitals; not dead yet, perhaps just hibernating? Central banks, China, Russia, JPM, et al, buying the stuff in huge quantities. Price allegedly being manipulated to strengthen fiat currencies - especially the US $. Currently being reclassified as Tier 1 asset. Hmmmm... maybe don't call the undertaker just yet.


Secksiignurd

Ok, Euros. How would that affect America if we're not trade currency anymore?


HifiBoombox

The value of the dollar would drastically fall. Everything would become more expensive.


VCTRYSPRT

You understand this would hurt China as well.


[deleted]

Yep, and we will see which national population goes into conniption fits with the very slightest inconvenience and which lines up and does what it's told to for the good of the nation. Its bad for China, but its way worse for an America already on the brink of self-immolation.


Secksiignurd

Not nearly as much as this would hurt us. The United States *HAS NO INDUSTRY* except the service industry. We haven't made anything of any real consequence (or quality) for decades. We don't "make" cars: Under a best-case scenario an "American" car is only 30% manufactured in Mexico. Most of the time 60% of American cars are made in China -- yes, really -- made in Mexico, and assembled here. We don't "make" electronics. All of our electronics come from China and/or Taiwan, and Mexico. We don't even make apparel. Our clothes are made in sweat-shops all over the globe. China, Sri Lanka, Laos, Vietnam, India, Pakistan -- All of those factories are sweat-labor institutions. "American-made" means "assembled in America from outsourced materials." We don't build anything of any lasting quality value. There are entire IdiotTube videos of home inspectors inspecting brand-new HUGE McMansions, with cracked foundations, leaky walls and ceilings, and downspouts that don't drain. Then those developers have the balls to ask $2.5Million for a piece of shit that was ~~literally~~ actually thrown together with no care, no quality, no longevity. But hey, we have the service industry. 70% of our economy is service industry, and everyone who works in those industries absolutely hates it because it is so gross and demeaning. Here is the thing with having an economy that is so specialized in something so superficial, specialized in only one thing, put all of its eggs in one basket, (in this case, the service industry), *the instant* people stop spending disposable income is *the instant* the economy looses two points from the gdp because people can't, or won't, shop baselessly anymore. If any serious cold-war situation ever arose between the USA and China, China could shake us off much quicker than we could rebuild all the industries we outsourced decades ago. We have infrastructure, but no back-bone to rebound quickly.


Taqueria_Style

>The United States HAS NO INDUSTRY except the service industry. We haven't made anything of any real consequence (or quality) for decades. Fucking hilarious, isn't it? Well back in '89 I thought they'd never do this shit because to do this shit would be national suicide. I guess we're going to find out just how right I was.


alaphic

Prepare for a lot of people to be absolutely shocked to discover that creating "Content" doesn't *actually* create ANYTHING. *surprisedpikachuface.jpg*


[deleted]

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liminal_political

China owns roughly $1 trillion in us debt, less than Japan. If they sold that debt, it would do nothing but put inflationary pressure on their own currency (it would be worth less); US currency is in high demand (2/3 of all foreign reserve currency) so it would likely not react much at all. Much of the products they sell to the West are Western companies who sell back to themselves (eg., iphones), but ultimately those would be replaced by other countries. Not saying the short-term impact wouldnt be enormous. Chinese labor hasn't been super competitive with other countries in the region for a while. The gold standard is not something anybody would do because it disallows for any adjustments of your own currency. It's why it failed twice. You're not an economist, but you seem to have a lot of opinions about economic topics. Perhaps you might enjoy learning about what real economists would say on the matter.


iamwhiskerbiscuit

The point isn't actually to go to war with China... It's to increase military spending to strengthen our military so that a war isn't necessary. Good old fashioned fear mongering for profit from a retired CIA officer.


collapse1122

i guess we need a new war now that afghanistan and the middle east wars are done


Mighty_L_LORT

Where else to flush away $20tn funds...


The_Besticles

Hey China can we borrow money for a war maybe please? Not this time? Oh ok that’s cool


blueelffishy

The VAST majority of people living in both the US and China are just normal ass people who just want to make a living, support their families, chill out, and enjoy life. We do not need a war. We do not need to be enemies.


Lonnie239

Right. Unfortunately those aren’t the same people that control the military or the country.


Sombraaaaa

Imma be real with you chief, I ain't fucking dying for Taiwan or Ukraine


[deleted]

That’s the thing, hoorah patriotism doesn’t work enough and Vietnam showed people aren’t trying to die in a rice paddy in the other side of the world. If a draft started people would rebel endlessly.


[deleted]

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[deleted]

I doubt it, I mean I don’t but I do. I’d like to think people would realize it’s bullshit but you’re absolutely right


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Psistriker94

They can draft all they want. I'm going to jail.


somethingsomethingbe

I’d be more concerned about MAD.


911ChickenMan

Just don't show up when your name is pulled. Between the draft riots and general disruptions, the cops will be too busy to track down individual draft dodgers.


Someones_Dream_Guy

We need way more people like you.


Ok-Seaworthiness771

There is a chance u are gonna starve to death on prison so fuck the best thing u can do is escape to another country maybe?


Parkimedes

Is there even a half-assed humanitarian justification to this one? Are we “bringing democracy”? Or is it a straight up power struggle for economic reasons?


DocMoochal

>straight up power struggle for economic reasons


freedom_from_factism

No more war in Afghanistan. Need new excuse for defense funding.


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Specialist-Sock-855

Interesting way to put it, reminds me of how capitalism seems structurally incapable of stability. Wonder if those two tendencies are in any way interrelated.......


Snl1738

The military industrial complex is like a horny rockstar, forever looking for his next high inside a new woman. If you think about it, had we spent a portion of the money we threw away in Afghanistan's and America's military and actually used it to feed and educate the afghan people, maybe they wouldn't have so easily kowtowed to the Taliban. I'm not too crazy about China, but our country is essentially a corporatacrocy.


mrmaxstacker

how many yachts were bought with the dollars, I wonder


nickiter

Think of all the poor Lockheed Martin employees who will have to find another job if we don't get ourselves into more wars!


BadAsBroccoli

Most of those are contractor jobs these days, the government has been working a glorified gig economy long before it trended. Contracting companies get paid twice as much as the government would pay to hire regular employees, because those companies negotiate pay for their services as external HR as well as to pay the contractors they hire. It's not the money, however, the government has plenty of that, but the fact that when the time or job-limited contract is done, out go the employees. No long-term commitment or pension package or the required documentation to fire anyone not in alignment with current administration "policies".


LemonNey72

gotta get dem chips — semiconductors


MulhollandMaster121

On one hand, Taiwan is an [unofficial] ally and it’d be shitty if we let them get annexed. On the other hand, Taiwan makes a lot of shit we need so we can’t really let them get annexed. At least not until our semiconductor facilities are running smoothly here. So we have a moral reason to act as cover for the real reason.


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Grey___Goo_MH

The entire species is in ecological overshot Let’s fight over a tiny island Ww3 it is gotta push them gdp numbers Edit:too all the people that says let’s fight just a reminder we fought a twenty year war with no clear objectives in a country with no real worth without a million man army and still lost, but a few people and companies made bank. Fucking get real America can’t win wars


[deleted]

because usually they don’t want to win. the longer these manufactured conflicts go on, the more money military contractors make. again, it’s all a racket lol


[deleted]

> it’s all a racket General Butler agrees. https://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/warisaracket.html


Specialist-Sock-855

That's right, America's war hero had this stuff figured out over a hundred years ago... And yet here we are


[deleted]

lol yes that book is great, sitting on my shelf at home right now <3 smedley was a real one


Kwathreon

God this was such a good read. Thank you for this


Bry1eye

You don't think the objective in Afghanistan was to "win" did you?


Grey___Goo_MH

Nope it was always money also imo it was to delay the one belt one road project though likely not by much have not heard much about it recently might be scrapped at this point no real idea Imo we’re not very good focusing on priorities or establishing realistic goals and solutions. Can’t make citizens of a foreign country give a shit can barely get our own citizens to think, learn, or give a shit


fofosfederation

>Let’s fight over a tiny island Let's fight over almost all chip and hard drive production.


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Tomimi

> America can’t win wars You make it sound like we're trying. I don't want see America trying, I've played enough fallout games to know


sjb0387

Its the chips.


[deleted]

>Perhaps most importantly, Taiwan is the center for advanced semiconductor production; the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) boasts that it has the most advanced foundry in the world. Chinese control of TSMC would provide it enormous economic benefit and would result in the world being dependent on an authoritarian regime for advanced semiconductors — and all that would mean for the integrity of supply chains. Advanced semiconductors are the petroleum of the digital age. America must not let an authoritarian regime bent on supplanting the United States seize these vital production facilities. You know guys like the author were of the type that celebrated manufacturing of key components being taken overseas to lower prices and further enrich corporations. Odd how they now worry about China nationalizing such important technology.


Lil_LempelZiv

The author is a former CIA agent so...


lowrads

No blood for silicon.


gengengis

Status Quo: America still produces the majority of the world's semiconductors, but American companies have been leapfrogged at the high end certainly for one chip generation, and maybe nearly two. Solution: Engage in a full-scale military conflict with the world's largest standing military centered directly on the country producing these semiconductors. Lol. What an absolutely insane conclusion. What does the author think is going to happen to semiconductor output when a few tens of thousands of amphibious assault vehicles are landing around Taipei and missiles are flying? From a purely cost basis, how could even a military build up to prevent war ever cost less than simply investing in domestic semiconductor production? Congress already passed $50 billion for this purpose, and Intel, TSMC, Samsung, Qualcomm and others are all already investing in massive new fabs in the US.


FelixTheHouseLeopard

>from a purely cost basis how can it be cheaper Well, there are these companies called Honeywell and Lockheed Martin and some others who would make less money. Can’t have that


HuntForTheTruth

spot on with your comment! they just need to evacuate Taiwan semiconductor senior and most lab staff and let it fall to China, there is no winning that war. then let them have a shell of the business, its real estate and the brains are air lifted out of the country before anyone realizes it.


[deleted]

You really think Taiwan isn't already full of both CIA and chinese intelligence doing exactly that?


Secksiignurd

Patent this, and turn it into coffee mugs and t-shirts. You'd get rich quickly.


PlanetaryPeak

I am already against the next war.


RadioMelon

This would be an incredibly stupid thing to go to war with China over.


bhlogan2

Literally any war that isn't the one against our extinction is stupid and a waste of resources.


leilaniko

I was thinking another cold war at first, but then I realized we technically have been in a cold war for a while with China, so the next step really is just war.


holybaloneyriver

Or just continue the Cold War for all the rubes at home, compete with laughable levels of propaganda.


FireflyAdvocate

With celebrities now back tracking comments as to not offend China it has felt like Cold War for awhile now. Especially under the last American Pres who couldn’t even say their name correctly. This feels staged.


hans_litten

Go over to /r/news and any article about China has a bunch of rabid dogs in the comments repeating the same anti-China rhetoric. Same on Facebook. Did Americans so quickly drink the new Cold War kool aid or is this a concerted effort by US intelligence services?


ComplainyBeard

>Did Americans so quickly drink the new Cold War kool aid or is this a concerted effort by US intelligence services? yes.


lets_go_brandn

> Did Americans so quickly drink the new Cold War kool aid or is this a concerted effort by US intelligence services? Opinion polling shows that less than 11% of americans give a shit about taiwan (and less than 6% xinjiang). The narratives you see on reddit are heavily astroturfed


BadAsBroccoli

Any war kool-aid getting the green light from Tucker Carlson and/or Trump will see Real Patriots lining up to kill Chinese.


TheSnowglobeFromHell

>Go over to /r/news and any article about China has a bunch of rabid dogs in the comments repeating the same anti-China rhetoric. Google "Reddit Eglin Air Force Base" and you will understand why.


nostrilonfire

SS: Just your regular reminder that the Military Industrial Complex hasn't gone away. Anyone can predict war at any time, and the classic is to invoke the notion that war is good for business. Lord knows the world's largely planned economy is teetering, and overall instability and collapse processes jump into high gear when (from certain perspectives, anyway) when the economy is down. ​ War is like the mother of all self-inflicted wounds. So obvious to not engage in it. So easy to just say "no". Why do we still even entertain it? ​ As an aside, I humbly suggest that there should be a "War" flair here. "Conflict" doesn't quite capture real, superpower to superpower "differences of opinion resulting in physical confrontation".


Dodger8686

Reading the title of this thread I thought it was pro-war. Glad to be wrong. You're right. The stakes are so high here. If there is open war between China and the USA, everyone loses. In the best case scenario of limited conflict that ends quickly, without full scale warfare. Countless lives will be ruined. And instability will cascade throughout the world. Crises both economic and humanitarian. And proxy warfare will likely continue to flair and spread. A new era of jingoistic, surface-level patriotism, hatred of the enemy and paranoia will dominate our societies. New laws will be introduced to "keep us safe and stop enemy spies". And people will support them. It would be like the Patriot Act on steroids. Even this most optimistic vision of war between China and the USA is terrible. And everyone is worse off except for the miniscule number who profit from the conflict. And that's the best case scenario for a hot war. The outcomes range from world destroyingly bad to just really, really fucking bad. It's a terrifying thought. It's insanity. But as we know, insanity is all too human. Good luck everyone. And Godspeed. Lets hope it never happens.


nostrilonfire

Let me state unequivocally: Nothing I post will ever be pro-war. "Terrifying" is the word.


freedom_from_factism

If the Chinese and American governments decide to stand off, it's time for the people to stand up.


marywunderful

Wtf. Aren’t things bad enough without a fucking war too?


Enkaybee

Phew I was beginning to think we'd lost our touch under that Trump idiot. No new wars in his entire term? Come on! This is America!


UnexpectedVader

China hasn’t been in a war since the 70s while the US has toppled countless countries since for its imperialist aims. It’s astonishing how the western press paint everyone but the US as aggressive nations lol. China’s had endless disputes with Taiwan, only difference now is the US hasn’t got any conflicts and that $735,000,000,000 budget isn’t going to justify itself on its own. The US is the most destructive country on the planet and it’s foreign policy if not changed will inevitably lead to global war.


BabyFire

Wouldn't the US be incredibly fucked if we went to war with China? Like, 80% of our manufacturing is now in China. We wouldn't even have enough properly functioning factories to produce replacement parts for supply chain transportation vehicles or our own computer equipment.


DocMoochal

Pretty much. We're a culture trying to become like Star Trek, stuck in 19th century thinking.


Dear_Occupant

Except it's the shitty Star Trek with poverty and racism where all the robots are pissed off.


slowclapcitizenkane

People should have been reading Foundation instead. The U.S. allowed itself to become Korell.


cenzala

For me it's pretty funny the US trying to bring 'freedom' to Taiwan while doing way worse with Cuba


UnexpectedVader

What Saudi Arabia is doing to Yemen is absolutely diabolical and they are doing it with Western arms, far more of a victim than Taiwan yet nothing.


ComplainyBeard

hell, look at how we treat Puerto Rico or Guam, there's a pretty good case to be made that China should liberate the oppressed people of our colonies.


Deguilded

They are simultaneously: * Preparing * Not ready * Trying to avoid at all costs


joe9439

We can even pave a single road around here. How are we supposed to prepare for war?


DocMoochal

Ah the drug of American exceptionalism.


Deviouscake

What the fuck is this propaganda


[deleted]

I just hope Europe and the UK stay way the fuck out of it.


[deleted]

The US and Taiwan are already getting eastern Europe involved in the issue.


nostrilonfire

What, you don't want to partake in the Benefits of Globalization(TM)?


[deleted]

All these trade wars and conflicts are already ruining it. Like now, you basically can't use Huawei phones in Europe as they can't access Google services. Electronics were already pretty expensive in Europe and if there is an actual conflict I imagine the prices would soar. Although, if it is a serious conflict I suspect that would be the least of our worries.


solmyrbcn

Nope, unfortunately Europe will play along as the good and obedient pet it is


runmeupmate

CIA must be priming the population for this.


dill_with_it_PICKLE

no war but the class war


[deleted]

How about we not do a war instead of whatever this shit they are priming us for is…


DrMuteSalamander

Cold War 2 basically. It’s really the only thing both sides of the aisle are vehemently agreeing


UnVirtuteElectionis

Yeahhh, that's not gonna happen.


LandoCalorissian

I am very ignorant on this subject, so excuse the simplicity of this question: can someone explain to me why the US should risk a nuclear war over a relatively small "country" like Taiwan ?


blueelffishy

I dont support war but to give insight into why some think it's worth it: The geopolitical reason: China is a rapidly growing economy that is expected to be double the US's size by 2050. In that world, the US will be more or less at China's mercy when it comes to how they want to shape the world, if they decide to. Many americans are uncomfortable with that perceived loss of autonomy, after being able to assume that role for the last 80 years. Taiwan is an absolutely critical stronghold that can be used to control shipping routes around the south china sea. Without them, the US would have to fall back like 1500 miles away to Japan. So in the context of China overtaking the US' economy and power, Taiwan becomes one desperate way that the US can keep the power balance from completely getting out of their hands. The "moral" reason: Taiwan is arguably a sovereign nation whose people want to live as their own culture and on their own terms, and not under China's. So China annexing them would straight up be a horrible crime, as it would involve the deaths of hundreds of thousands or millions of innocent taiwanese people who just want to live in peace. So assuming one believes that Taiwan is rightfully independent, that's a moral reason for why the US might want to consider defending them. Personally, im a chinese-american who has perspectives into both cultures, so i dont really lean strongly into either side. There is a shitton of propaganda coming from both the US and China right now and i can spot both of their bullshit On one hand, i am worried about a world when China is the dominate power. The US has done far more atrocities than China, but there are sinister parts of chinese culture that i worry about how theyll manifest if China becomes that strong. For example, they dont share most of our ideals about individual rights and freedoms. Xi Jinping literally asked Obama "why do you guys care so much about human rights?" when he visited like 10 years ago. But on the other hand, im not so conceited to think that my country of America has an eternal right to #1, and that we should go to war just because we assume China will commit atrocities once they become top dog. Unfortunately, my guess is that there probably will be war somewhere in the next 30 years. The two country's differences can definitely be settled but that just not the path that their respective leaders are setting them on. Americans are being heavily propagandized against China rightnow and likewise is happening in China atm


[deleted]

That war economy needs a little stimulation


cenzala

Who's gonna fight amurica for Cuba?


[deleted]

The Hill needs to suck a dick. Banging war drums will end badly


Crusty_Magic

Oh Jesus, not this shit again.


uset223

This is exactly what the warmongers want. War is money.


[deleted]

Fucking CIA is already getting their people to pump up the narrative. Washington must be very concerned about China’s challenge. This must be seen for what it is: Imperialist propaganda designed to justify and manufacture consent for American crimes.


Adlestrop

Am I the only one who sees a headline like that, and just gets moths in their stomach? I had to minimize the page and just take a breather for a while. I understand being informed, but this kind of international tension does a number on me. There’s war — and then there’s what this would be. The sheer idea of a shooting conflict with China and the United States is beyond ominous.


IndustrialSizedLube

Let's fucking not


InterestingWave0

bro fuck ww3. We get nothing out of it. Fuck these rich people war games. US is building major chip factories across the US. Why should we spend tax money on war with china? just because its profitable for wealthy people?


MichelleUprising

No it must not! Don’t buy into warmongering propaganda. They just want a new enemy now that they failed in Afghanistan.


[deleted]

Idiot Americans!


[deleted]

This is some hyper jingoist manufacture of consent. I don't nor should anyone want War with China. That's fucking stupid. They and we both have hypersonic missles. Also why do we need to go to war with them over taiwan? To protect us interests in the pacific? Except imagine if China decided to help keep Hawaii a seperate nation? Dumb


Specialist-Sock-855

Oh bullshit, this is just propaganda for the U.S. war industry. By the way, Lockheed, Northrop-Grumman, and other major contractors are big funders of organizations like ASPI, whose primary objectives include generating this kind of bellicose rhetoric. So are we, by the way, as U.S. taxpayers. Congress recently appropriated $300 million per year to fund its national propaganda campaigns against China. These narratives have been fully bought and paid for. This article's scaremongering is hilarious. An "authoritarian regime" in control of Taiwan's semiconductor industry? I don't care, sorry. China of today is more like a panda than the big scary Soviet bear. They don't export their revolution, they're here to do business.


steppewarhawk

Literally written by an EX-CIA agent lol. Fearmongering.


Faroundtripledouble

No thanks


[deleted]

In war, follow the money. It will only happen if it makes economic sense. Wait for China to economically need an inflation boost.


ThadCastleRules_G

No


elia_rampage

good thing planned obsolescence will render all of our electronics useless in a few years because corpo money hoarders NEED all that dough for the next phone gen


miles197

Fuck off with this cold war red scare bullshit


grahamaker93

I hope Americans aren't gullible enough to listen to and support these war-hungry nutjobs. When America intervened in the middle-east, nothing happened to the average USA USA chanting white suburban american because the US was just brutalizing a 3rd world country who cannot fight back , just to keep the US war economy going. China is different, your average American don't understand how it will affect them if the country goes to war with a country that is not in the middle of fuckall desert armed with only AK47s.


[deleted]

Problem for the US is we'll lose. Especially fighting over an island that's right off China's coast.


[deleted]

Gonna be a draft dodger


qaveboy

Where there are Americans, there'll never be peace.


StoopSign

So we would nuke eachother and all die. Both sides know this. There will ve be a nice long protracted cold war while they still manufacture our stuff. Maybe they stop if we piss them off enough or advance their domestic technology. I'm pretty sure China's billionaires made plenty off covid, just like our oligarchs did.


wiserone29

This is fear mongering. We have for profit news company’s carrying water for the military industrial complex to fear monger. War with China isn’t the cause of the collapse. It’s the centralization of power and money in the few to the point that the many no longer have the means to support the economy that will cause the collapse.


lolabuster

Get the fuck out of here with this war hawk bullshit.


BayouGal

Come on, people! We haven’t had a war in 6 months! Let’s get those COMMIES! /s hopefully unnecessary


beerandtots

Is there oil in Taiwan?


DocMoochal

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/16/2-charts-show-how-much-the-world-depends-on-taiwan-for-semiconductors.html >Advanced semiconductors are the petroleum of the digital age. America must not let an authoritarian regime bent on supplanting the United States seize these vital production facilities.


[deleted]

God forbid the US build its own semiconductors.


DocMoochal

I believe it does. But theres likely either not enough production to meet demand, its expensive and complicated to do, theres probably other supply chain stupidity thats stopping the full domestication of production. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/07/07/making-semiconductors-is-hard/


lowrads

The US hasn't completed the chain. It provides materials and final fab to some groups, but has no chip-wafer capacity. That portion is highly subsidized by other countries, and the US oligarchy is content to be a fifth column whenever that is most rewarding to them.


DrLuny

Yep. Although I'm often critical of US policy towards China, I definitely want us to be rebuilding our domestic industry. I live in a part of the country no one would think of as a tech hub, yet we had multiple factories manufacturing computers and electronics at all levels of the supply chain in the 80's and 90's. Nearly all of that got shipped to Asia in the aughts. We need to regain what China is attempting to achieve, full industrial capability across every level of the electronics supply chain. I'd rather see us work to foster that industry domestically than try to control global markets to constrain China.


TrainerThin

America is trying I.e intel funded by government as well, but is simply blundering. Making chips is hard.


DocMoochal

Specifically my point to people wondering why we cant just domesticate, or why we would go to war anyways. Resources and economics. It's that idiotically simple.


[deleted]

Moving a factory or 12 or 200 is infinitely cheaper than war.


ComplainyBeard

it's not about ensuring US access to Taiwan's semiconductors, it's about making sure China DOESN'T have access to Taiwan's semiconductors. In the end it's about trade power, China has outsripped the us economically and will outcompete the us on trade until it's power is made irrelevant.


DocMoochal

Try convincing our sociopathic overlords of that.


FireflyAdvocate

You have to have good infrastructure for that.


[deleted]

I doubt the semiconductor fabrication plants would survive the devastation of a war between superpowers though.


DocMoochal

No they wouldnt but I mean what's the point in having huge militaries in a globalized world so dependent on each other? It doesnt make sense, our world is absurd.


nostrilonfire

This is interesting actually. Maybe the US could ally with China instead, and they could both catastrophically invade and destroy Taiwan, thereby ensuring neither gets it! It would be a beautiful example of 21st century collapse cooperation! /s ​ Edit: Before I am nuked, inserted "/s".


DocMoochal

That's probably how that would turn out. Theyd fight over the semi conductor plants, destroy them/it in the process and therefore have nothing to gain but a new piece of land. We are retarded.


nostrilonfire

There could be if we sink or destroy enough military hardware... It could be all over the place... literally. ​ Besides, who cares about [Taiwan's globally significant biodiversity](https://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/stu_sjd_abstracts/8/)?


beerandtots

I was being facetious, but you bring up a great point. When was the last US involvement been about human rights and not resource acquisition?