Sweet

Good episode about Havana Syndrome and who is likely causing these injuries to US spies and diplomats (seemingly the Russians) opps wrong one, this one. The top one is the older ones:

I was of the same opinion originally, the optics of this looks like Biden cares more about the national security of Ukraine than the US. I’ve changed my mind though, the issue in Ukraine is too important. Republicans should fund Ukraine and then make the border an election winning issue. It’s also clear Trump don’t want a deal on the border going into the Nov election.

Republicans blocking funding unless border issue dealt with. But Biden also has the power to provide aid to Ukraine as President and he isn’t doing it.

What the hell! Up another 40%. This thing could just steam roller higher as more learn about it.

When you say we were at the centre of provocation Greg what do you mean? That the West was happy to embrace Ukraine if that was its wish to align closer with us? That’s not a provocation in my view. You mentioned previously that McCain interfered in Ukraine, so far as I can tell the West supported the Ukrainian people and the parliament who wanted closer ties with Europe. Putin seen it as a provocation for war, but is it? At what point are we just regurgitating Putin’s views? A settlement in a week would be Ukraine doing what Russia says. Claims that Putin was ready for a peace with Ukraine and allow it to be free and independent are not true. He wanted control one way or another. And in any case how could you trust Putin when he just breaks agreements as he sees fit. I’m all for supporting no war too. In practise though Putin believes in war if it furthers his political goals, like many dictators before him. The West for the most part does not believe in going to war because your neighbour takes a different political direction. It was Putin that brought war to Ukraine, not the West, and there is no doubt about that either.

We still compete globally in a battle of ideas. The Ukrainian people want closer alignment with Europe and its parliament voted for it. The then pro-Russian Ukrainian President vetoed the bill and tried to force closer ties with Russia on Ukraine and he was turfed out in 2014. Putin’s Russia doesn’t want that for Ukraine. From your postings elsewhere I’d guess that you and I have very similar political views - except on this. And I don’t understand why many others who broadly share my political views are then agnostic about who wins in Ukraine. Ukraine: a friendly country, wants to ally with us, wants to be more like us, shares our values and has looked for our leadership. Putins Russia: dictator which is openly hostile to us, that seeks to undermine our countries in many ways, its values are whatever Putin wants. How can we be agnostic about the side?

Do you not think there is a good vs bad in the Russia ukraine war?

Interesting new ETF called Destiny Tech100 debuted last week. It holds only private companies. SpaceX is 35% of its holding. One big problem though, there is a 2.5% management fee! Another big problem is it is closed end fund, it’s opened at $8 two weeks ago and is already at $56!

I don’t think they have a problem cutting rates at 3%. I hope they don’t cut too much, rates were way too low

It quotes the same source for the article, it says "disparaging narratives were based in fact despite being secretly released by intelligence operatives under false cover". The same source you took at face value. You’re constantly posting content which is pro-China and anti-US. You’ve appeared to make pro-authoritarian arguments and are for censorship of the media in China. You’re clearly pushing an agenda on this board.

I read the article but I don’t see why Russia invading Ukraine is somehow justified, or a reason why the West (including America) shouldn’t help Ukraine.

What did they do? McCain and the CIA?

Same article also said it was based on facts whereas you said it was ‘misinformation’. You’re selecting choose when parts which want to quote and ignoring parts inconvenient.

Do you think China actively tries to block US interests? You said it is ‘misinformation’ the article you posted said it’s factually true information.

I’m referring to you Luca - that’s how I interpret your attitude to China. You’re posting a Reuters article about the CIA spreading what they consider factual information and claiming it is dirty and then saying is it any wonder China is censoring the news. You’re not posting the dirty tricks of China, and you are against the press openly publishing factual information (according to the CIA) about corrupt officials.

I don't understand why anyone would care either and yet it's forbidden information in China.

You just have to lol at wachtwoord's comments. I'll say it again... arrogant. Recently Nvidia has outperformed bitcoin significantly, you have to go back to the first half of 2017 before you find meaningful outperformance of bitcoin. Warning - this requires 'stronger self-reflection' to acknowledge there was a better place for your money. Nearly all the gains in bitcoin was made from buying extremely early and just holding. Raise your hand if you bought in 2012 or before (date wachtwoord's article) and continue to hold those bitcoins? I know a two people that had bitcoin back then and not a single person held.

Coincidentally, just today the BBC is reporting that the UK government have identified that China has been responsible for a range of cyberattacks in the UK: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-politics-68654299 But it is all just politically motivated propaganda sure.

Do you think Chinese media would post a story about CCP covert influence operations? I doubt it. China undoubtedly engages in these exact activities - such as social media campaigns - only bad when the West does it apparently. A quote from the same article: "disparaging narratives were based in fact despite being secretly released by intelligence operatives under false cover". It would be pretty naïve to believe the top brass in China don't have massive amounts of wealth, which is ironic for aptly named communist party. A Bloomberg investigation into Xi (before he was president) caused such embarrassment that Bloomberg was banned in China: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/jun/29/china-bloomberg-xi-jinping Why shouldn't the Chinese people know about the wealth of their leaders Luca?

What about one of these covered call ETFs such as XYLD? It yields nearly 10% and has been in operation from 2013. I’ve never personally owned one because I feel it’s a product I don’t fully understand and therefore I’m unable to assess the risk. Still, I am interested in these types of products.

Don’t own any of these. Don’t think I’d ever buy Chinese stocks either.

Yes they could go bankrupt but even then their tech could be scoped up. Pacbio are losing money now but they are gaining traction in the sequencing world. They’ve recently released new protocols which will bring the cost down for many of their applications significantly. I expect adoption to pick up. The biggest disappointment is Oxford Nanopore, they are pushing R&D hard and arguably it’s the best tech, but just not getting the traction.

Illumina was pretty much a monopoly for a while, and in hindsight it was right to block Pacbio, but that monopoly is gone. Pacbio is a genuine a competitor and their product is better than Illumina’s - although much more expensive right now. Oxford Nanopore too but their execution is terrible.