Luke

Hahahaha!

Sold my Tencent position and added proceeds to Prosus+extra Prosus

Saying McCoy talks 50% non sense and produces garbage results is a bit of a stretch dont you think

Okay, perhaps he should have defined the word ,,superpower,, more. If we look at history, trying to gain advantages around the gigantic connected continents of EU, Africa and Asia was a pretty basic goal. Could you elaborate? Also, there are talks with afghanistan, pakistan and china. I have to look deeper in what strategic investments are planned but there is something to it. China’s renewed interest in Afghanistan came after the fall of the United States-backed Afghan government. Independent Chinese investors were making inroads, albeit weak and flailing attempts, into Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. This latest deal cements China’s presence in the war-ravaged country. But the true test of the deal will remain to be seen in its implementations, experts say. “The real win is not in getting the contract or getting the Chinese back on the ground but in how [the Taliban] regulate and implement [contracts and projects], considering the current capacity within the Ministry,” Jumrainy, the industry expert, said, adding that not many details of the deal were made public. https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2023/2/27/will-chinas-latest-investment-in-afghanistan-actually-work

@Spekulatius https://www.brown.edu/news/2021-09-01/costsofwar Nearly 20 years after the United States’ invasion of Afghanistan, the cost of its global war on terror stands at $8 trillion and 900,000 deaths, according to a new report from the Costs of War project at Brown University. The Costs of War project, founded more than a decade ago at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs and co-directed by two Brown scholars, released its influential annual report ahead of the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania, the impetus for an ongoing American effort to root out terrorism in the Middle East and beyond. https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/figures/2021/BudgetaryCosts

The US definitely has propaganda in media that supports specific political targets but not propaganda like in China where we have a clapping App from Tencent to applaud Xi Speeches:

https://www.ft.com/content/d262d1eb-5ded-4202-9362-c9b04b5e4494

Whats super interesting is that according to Alfred McCoy, China circled afghanistan with lines of steel waiting for afghanistan falling into its hands. The one connection that was missing was a pipeline through afghanistan, down to energy deficit areas of pakistan/india. In july, a month before the taliban took power, the taliban send a delegation to china and met with chinas foreign minister, to make sure that the taliban would promote chinese investment. Another great price of aghanistan: about a billion dollars of rare earth minerals, critical for lithium battery construction. Very valuable to china and the whole international community, China sat back, surrounded afghanistan with its geopolitical network and waited for afghanistan to fall into its hands, didnt pay anything for it, Nato/US spend 8 T USD.

Historian Alfred McCoy Predicts the U.S. Empire is Collapsing as China’s Power Grows He earned a Bachelor of Arts in European History from Columbia University in 1968, a Master of Arts in Asian Studies from the University of California, Berkeley in 1969, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Southeast Asian History from Yale University in 1977. His dissertation, advised by Harold C. Conklin was entitled Yloilo: Factional Conflict in a Colonial Economy, Iloilo Province, Philippines, 1937-1955, he returned to the United States in 1989 as a full professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he has since spent his career.

Just doing what @nwoodman did, going up to 6000m is already super hard. Any 8000er is expert full time mountaineer level (most 7000er as well). I dislike that they make it too easy for average people to go up on 8000 meters.

Living Standards in Taipeh or Shenzen are comparably the same. What does stand out is the freedom and i agree that the CCP worries about it. On the other hand i have met chinese who just dont bother, its not like their freedom is massively restricted either (with the except of political opinion). Some are rather a political (system doesnt stimulate political thought much) Both China and Taiwan are capitalist, with different state power. Taiwan really was a major success story due to the semiconductor specialization. But that was partly the state too that organized and funded these industries in its early beginnings. Taiwan also benefitted from the growing wealth in China, 26% of exports go there. I do think changing the strategy of the party helped them to grow so immensely, of course its not only them alone but lots of it is on their shoulders.

But it represents pretty well how the fronts think of each other. Anything that China says or does is propaganda.

Well, if that is your conclusion after everything i shared we can really disagree about our assessments of the situation! Cheers!

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3221093/china-can-help-central-asian-brethren-unite-xi-jinping-tells-xian-summit?module=inline&pgtype=article Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday called for the “brethren in Central Asia” to unite against attempts to divide them in the face of unprecedented turmoil and build themselves as the bridge connecting Asia and Europe. “The world needs a harmonious Central Asia. Brotherhood is better than all wealth,” Xi said in a keynote speech delivered on the second day of the inaugural China-Central Asia Summit in Xian, attended by the leaders of five countries in the region. Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan also expressed support for Chinese engagement, including belt and road plan

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3221769/xi-jinping-calls-eurasian-nations-boost-ties-chinas-belt-and-road-beijing-aims-expand-influence Speaking as an invited guest at the opening ceremony of the second Eurasian Economic Forum in Moscow via video link on Wednesday, Xi also reiterated that the path towards a multipolar world was “irresistible”, Xinhua reported. “The ultimate goal of [the belt and road programme] is to explore new ways for countries from near and far to achieve common development and to open up a path of happiness that benefits the whole world,” Xi was quoted as saying.

Ultimately, President Xi Jinping is likely to find that BRI gains still far outweigh the financial costs incurred by loan write-offs that recipient nations or companies cannot repay. https://www.gisreportsonline.com/r/belt-road-initiative/

What the US and Europe realize is that the other side of the globe is now much more potent than 30 years ago. Over are the times of G7 planning their factories in Third World countries and living off of rich monopolies. Times are changing, new world organization is coming, who says what depends on how many people in respective countries live and how big respective economies are. The Chinese, Indians, South africans etc are having more and more Say in how the world runs.

The only war that is here is called economic competition. China is not a country that just invades other countries (contrary to the US), all they do is build out their country, other countries and grow the respective economies. All this ,,China is at war with us,, tries to raise acceptance for further military investment and if this agressive attitude from the US continues, possible real military war. There have to be diplomatic conversations and regulations for the patent stealing allegations. But if i look at the politicians in the US, they are already hot to fire rockets. Politically its a really really bad move.

Guy Spier talking about China in March 2023: 1.Goal of the CCP is to stay in power, in order to stay in power they have to bring prosperity to the people of china. Never have been people been lifted out of poverty in the history and its due to the credit of the CCP. 2. We see millions of people traveling out of china and coming back to china, its not as unfree as some might think. Delivered on prosperity to a middle class. 3. They have shown an ability to self correct which has happened before He owns Prosus, Alibaba and BYD. @Dinar might be interesting to you too

China is not communist country, Munger praised china multiple times for what they have done, i dont see any reason why we cant be impressed by the rapid growth and development. I cant speak the language, its also not my culture, i dont know anyone there: so of course i prefer to live in my home country where i grew up. I dont say the west is awful and china is great. Both have problems, what i disagree is about the framing of china. 1. Common currency planned 2. Common communication systems planned 3. Common institutions matching IMF 4. Common payment system planned The BRICS are considered the foremost geopolitical rival to the G7 bloc of leading advanced economies,[1] announcing competing initiatives such as the New Development Bank, the Contingent Reserve Arrangement, the BRICS payment system, the BRICS Joint Statistical Publication and the BRICS basket reserve currency. Since 2022, the group has sought to expand membership, with several developing countries expressing interest in joining.[8] Ahead of the BRICS summit, South Africa's Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said that there are 12 countries interested in joining the initiative. Of the 12, she mentioned 7 countries specifically, namely Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Algeria, Argentina, Mexico and Nigeria. On 15 July, the first day of the BRICS sixth summit in Fortaleza, Brazil, the group of emerging economies signed the long-anticipated document to create the US$100 billion New Development Bank (formerly known as the "BRICS Development Bank") and a reserve currency pool worth over another US$100 billion. Documents on cooperation between BRICS export credit agencies and an agreement of cooperation on innovation were also inked Since 2012, the BRICS group of countries have been planning an optical fibre submarine communications cable system to carry telecommunications between the BRICS countries, known as the BRICS Cable.[47] Part of the motivation for the project was the spying of the U.S. National Security Agency on all telecommunications that flowed in and out of United States territory.[48] At the 2015 BRICS summit in Russia, ministers from BRICS nations initiated consultations for a payment system that would be an alternative to the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) system. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov stated in an interview, "The finance ministers and executives of the BRICS central banks are negotiating ... setting up payment systems and moving on to settlements in national currencies. SWIFT or not, in any case we’re talking about ... a global multilateral payment system that would provide greater independence, would create a definite guarantee for BRICS."[102] BRICS countries will likely discuss the feasibility of a new common currency or similar at the 2023 BRICS summit in South Africa.[105] Fair and easier international trade as well as a major reduction in costs of transactions would be some of the reasons why the countries could forge a currency union, according to Mikatekiso Kubayi, a BRICS specialist. The birthrate was similar to the US just a few years ago, i am sure it will recover and they will implement some incentives that will work. Fearmongering, there are many many people in china that like their home and live in very reasonable wealth in the big cities. Dont forget the increase in racism against Chinese since trump. What data do you base this on? https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11192-022-04291-z China publishes more top 1% cited scientific papers globally than any other country. Their are leading in many areas and are catching up in many others. If you play the mao card than one can easily play the genocide against indigenous populations card in the US, or how the US treated blacks and their slaves. Whats the point? They almost doubled GDP, developed leading positions in many areas, started investments all over the world to engage in trade relationships. Helped building the BRICS community that has HALF the worlds population. BRICSs Grows GDP on average of 4.3%. Why slander them? The US media might say that China is burning bridges but i am sure they are building many more every day all over the world. Even macron realized that you cant just ignore china.

Literally true about China too. I am not justifying the actions of killing millions of people in the great leap forward. This is about an economic war between two states that had at least an equally ugly history. And i never justified concentration camps. There is no reason why they should accept it of course, but they are in a position because they did the exact same thing, and now IP of course is very important to them. Hypocritical from a geopolitical standpoint.

I just dont buy into all this absolute hate against the chinese government, how bad they are, how evil they are, that its a mafia state. There are many new people in the party and the country completely changed. Was Mao the worst that has happened to China? Probably. Again: We can say the same about the US, massive genocide against indigenous population, appalling slavery of blacks, brutal labor fight history and some of the most evil people running the country... I dont know exactly how the leadership in china decided to change its strategy and change their system and which specific communication happened with the US decades ago. But to give the government there 0 credit is just not worthy. Same is true for the US, many great things to mention. The US does not need to steal much patents (although there are cases of course) because it is at the top. “The message we are sending to China today is, Do as I say, not as I did,′ ” said Peter Andreas, professor at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs. “The fact of the matter is that the U.S. was the world’s hotbed of intellectual property theft.” Having imposed tariffs on $250 billion in Chinese goods, the Trump administration is trying to force Beijing to abandon what it calls its brass-knuckles drive to exploit American technology to speed its own economic modernization. The administration alleges — and many China watchers agree — that Beijing steals trade secrets and coerces U.S. companies to hand them over as the price of admission to the vast Chinese market. More than two centuries ago, the young United States, an agrarian backwater lacking in skilled workers, held a different view of other nations’ trade secrets: They were, it seemed, up for grabs. In 2012, having surveyed the sordid history of U.S. industrial espionage, the journal Foreign Policy called America “the China of the 19th century. “Only after becoming the leading industrial power did it become a champion of intellectual-property protections,” said Andreas, author of “Smuggler Nation: How Illicit Trade Made America.” Hamilton, determined to transform America into an industrial power, argued in 1791 that the United States needed “to procure all such machines as are known in any part of Europe.” Even so, Ben-Atar doubts that the U.S. can effectively keep its technology from slipping away. “The history of trying to restrict the movement of technology is the history of failure,” he said. In the 13th century, he noted, the Italian city-state of Venice sought to protect its glass-making industry by isolating its artisans on the island of Murano. Venice’s secrets got out anyway. Andreas doesn’t object to the U.S. trying to combat Chinese piracy. But “the finger-pointing and righteous indignation,” he said, “should be tempered by a historical reality check.” https://apnews.com/article/north-america-us-news-ap-top-news-theft-international-news-b40414d22f2248428ce11ff36b88dc53

Also, whats so bad about admiring something of china. Thats classical bloc thinking. Whats not impressive of this: