Ghost Leviathan posted:

China has actual business models and not vanity projects for billionaire failchildren and America just can't stand that

stephenthinkpad posted:

You know how there used to be gas powered scooters in the 90s and it was loud as gently caress. And then all got replaced by electric powered once the Lithium battery became a thing. And then electric became the only form of power in smaller personally transportation in everything below motorcycle.

This is going to happen to planes too. Now electric for hobbyists and light drones only, but it will work its way into bigger and bigger drones and eventually get into small airplanes.

quote:

Singapore: Sitting alongside the French president at the Élysée Palace, Xi Jinping was eager to convey his desire for international peace.

With Paris preparing to host the Olympic Games in two months, the Chinese president took up Emmanuel Macron’s call for a global truce during the fortnight of competition.

“The world is far from being tranquil,” he said, according to a transcript released by China after the remarks on Monday. China, “as a permanent member of the UN Security Council and a responsible major country” would work with France to advocate for a cessation of all fighting in all conflicts across the world during the Games.

Xi’s arrival in Europe, his first trip to the Continent in five years, comes as Western governments make repeated appeals to China to play a greater role in securing peace in the Middle East and Ukraine by leveraging its influence with Iran and Russia.

As Israel’s war in Gaza enters its seventh month, Xi used his remarks in Paris to issue a rallying call for action, calling it “a prolonged tragedy” and “a test for human conscience”.

“The international community must act. We call on all parties to work for an immediate, comprehensive and sustainable ceasefire in Gaza,” he said, repeating Beijing’s support for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

But with the wars in Gaza and Ukraine supercharging the fierce strategic rivalry between China and the US, many Western analysts have concluded that Beijing is content with picking only the low-hanging fruit of diplomacy, such as advancing calls for peace conferences, while using the conflicts to pursue its broader strategic goal of weakening US global dominance.

When it comes to the Middle East conflict, China’s strategy is an inherently self-interested one, says Nadège Rolland, a senior fellow at the National Bureau of Asian Research in Washington.

“It’s great power on the cheap,” Rolland says. “What China really wants is to make sure that the US is isolated on the global stage. And therefore China is positioning itself as the leader of the Global South, the leader of people in countries that are supposedly oppressed by Western countries,” Rolland says.

“On the other hand, China doesn’t have any interest in playing a major active role and providing security for the region.”

...

“If China becomes the dominant power, what does this behaviour now tell us about the stability and peace of the world in the future if China doesn’t want to get involved in resolving conflicts, saying to each country, ‘ these are your internal affairs, we don’t want to interfere’,” Nadège Rolland says.

“I think this means that the future world is going to be much more on fire than it is already.”

ModernMajorGeneral posted:

‘China played like a backbencher’: Xi’s self-serving push for peace in the Middle East

Dante80 posted:

Don't worry people, Biden to the rescue!

US set to impose 100% tariff on Chinese electric vehicle imports
https://archive.is/4CYcB#selection-1571.0-1571.64

The Biden administration plans to raise tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles imports from 25 per cent to 100 per cent, as it intensifies efforts ahead of the US election to protect American industry.

The administration is expected to announce the move, and other tariffs on clean energy imports, on Tuesday, according to people familiar with the situation.

The sharp rise in the levies comes amid mounting concern that China could flood the US market with cheap EVs, threatening the American car industry. President Joe Biden has taken several actions in recent months to convince union members in swing states that he will protect jobs.

The Biden administration has for three years been reviewing the tariffs that then president Donald Trump put on imports from China as part of the trade war he launched in 2018. The new EV tariffs will be announced alongside the conclusion of the review, led by the US Trade Representative.

(...)

Spergin Morlock posted:

lmao at the implication biden is doing all of this because he cares about union workers in the US

quote:

my mom and [grandmother] told me stories about when our [village] was under [the Communist Party of the Philippines's New People's Army] control for 3 months during the martial law era (i live in semi-rural davao) in 1985, here are some fun things i was able to collect from my inquisitories;



story #1:

a neighboring family (who are still our neighbors as of today) gossiped about the execution of soldiers in a more inland area, which somehow reached the [NPA] platoon commander in charge of our [village]. they went into their house with 3 other NPA and told them to stfu

story #2:

there used to be a couple neighborhoods worth of [huts] lived in by peasants, since it was a relatively rural area. when [the NPA] used to collect revolutionary tax - given we were the ones with the nicer houses, the platoon commander would take 30 pesos and buy some basic necessities like shampoo, soap etc for the peasant communities living in those bahay kubo with the taxes they got from us. given we lived near a relative underground water supply, they also helped litter some water to the farmers when it was dry season (el nino)

story #3

this was during the start of the NPA's layover in our barangay. my [grandfather] was a unapologetic marcos supporter and the manager of a local medium-sized pepsi-cola [convenience store] in the city proper.

a NPA political officer once visited our house and talked to my [grandmother] when he was away. he introduced himself in some form of stiff military style, saying "[we are the soldiers of the poor masses]", and discussing my [grandfather]. they assured her that 'no, we wont kill your husband, but we will watch him' and my [grandmother] invited him to the house for lunch which he accepted.

in the lunch, the officer would lay his pistol on the table and say "ma'am, i trust you, if ever you wish to defend your husband, you may take this pistol and shoot me right now".

my [grandmother] - conservative as she is - says that he was the only NPA she admired.

story 4

this was taken from a old neighbor. it was the feast day of the immaculate conception and when they went to mass, they were surprised to see 12 or so NPA fighters, including the same platoon commander sit on the right side corner of our church.

our neighbor, who had the balls to say this at the time - walked up and said "i thought you communists were godless!" to the shock of his friends who thought they would kill him on the spot - but they were met with laughter from the group, one of them saying "i was a catechist!"

last story:

the NPA had called a 'peoples court' meeting and every semi-important member of our [village] from every 'hut-ong' (class level) were called as representatives. naturally my [grandfather] and [grandmother] being from the land-owning class at the time went.

they called these meetings 'tigom sa katawhan' or people's assemblies, talking about a wide variety of topics.

this was 1986, with the rising tide of protests across the country against the marcos dictatorship. my [grandfather] was somewhat respected in the community for being down to earth, although his government-alignments did catch ire with the local party committee in our [village], he had talked with them earlier, though i don't know the details since my [grandmother] never asked.

he would say though that 'he was friendly with the NPA', and considered them to be freedom fighters, which was a unusual take coming from someone who also supported the marcos regime.

because of this, in what would be the final people's court session in our barangay, they discussed what was to be done given the 'inevitable fall of the marcos regime' which i never got much details from, though from what i could remember my [grandfather] would just sit and watch everyone speak since he had no place to make decisions as being the local bourgeois marcos-supporter class.

afterwards, my lolo traded a pair of sneakers for a pistol.

two weeks before [the EDSA revolution of 1986] - the alsa masa, a civilian contramilitia launched by government cronies based on far-right catholic militancy would arrive to our [village] to drive out the NPA.

one of the [Armed Forces of the Philippines] attaches would greet my [grandfather], asking him if he was okay, if the NPA tortured him but he proudly showed off this dusty pistol he got from a local NPA, to which it was taken from him for 'investigation' (though he never got it back).

the cartridge of this pistol sits in my mom's drawer to this day, so that's fun.

ModernMajorGeneral posted:

‘China played like a backbencher’: Xi’s self-serving push for peace in the Middle East

Marenghi posted:

She knows a lot about the inner workings of the State and it's top secret programs for a civilian defector who left as a child.

https://x.com/MarioNawfal/status/1788110147857883212

Danann posted:

https://twitter.com/RnaudBertrand/status/1789683632728371610

Not even bitcoin was able to keep American electricity consumption up.

Nonsense posted:

https://twitter.com/wolfejosh/status/1788977268418900237

Nonsense posted:

https://twitter.com/wolfejosh/status/1788977268418900237

Nonsense posted:

https://twitter.com/wolfejosh/status/1788977268418900237

Nonsense posted:

https://twitter.com/wolfejosh/status/1788977268418900237

Mister Bates posted:

any minute now

AnimeIsTrash posted:

AnimeIsTrash posted:

AnimeIsTrash posted:

Corky Romanovsky posted:

France implausibly denies use of polite manners to induce guests to consume food and drink to which said guest likely has digestive intolerance for.

AnimeIsTrash posted:

AnimeIsTrash posted:

AnimeIsTrash posted:

Marenghi posted:

She knows a lot about the inner workings of the State and it's top secret programs for a civilian defector who left as a child.

https://x.com/MarioNawfal/status/1788110147857883212