Politics

[Nature Boy]

Agreed. NB is a waste of time. I’m brightening my life with the ignore button. If we all do the same he can debate his drivel with himself.

yup, mob rule, no other opinions allowed. bye

 

[Nature Boy]

I'm going to regret this but.

Nature Boy, couldn't an argument be made that sending money/weapons to Ukraine is undermining China. Getting Russians to burn through their missiles, equipment, troops, and finances (as pointed out their military budget and overall economy is pretty small) is a strategic win since it diminishes one of China's key allies (especially militarily). I think seeing how Ukraine has bogged down Russia it has given China pause for invading Taiwan.

I am in agreement that China needs to be a priority but having Russia in a no win meat grinder situation is advantageous to the US.

As far as former military officer joining defense contractors, it kind of makes sense since it is their industry and leverages their experience (not to mention clearance requirements). Getting a job isn't necessary a grift even though there are actors that thrive off of war and chaos.

I could see how you could think that but the focus is on the wrong enemy. China also noticed how nobody stopped Putin from invading. If Trump was the President as he rightly should be, I doubt Putin goes in. Not just the posturing of Trump but he would have worked on a diplomatic fix.

This was written by a political scientist. Sums it up for me:

"I’m talking about the raw-power potential of Russia—the amount of economic might it has. Military might is built on economic might. You need an economic foundation to build a really powerful military. To go out and conquer countries like Ukraine and the Baltic states and to re-create the former Soviet Union or re-create the former Soviet Empire in Eastern Europe would require a massive army, and that would require an economic foundation that contemporary Russia does not come close to having. There is no reason to fear that Russia is going to be a regional hegemony in Europe. Russia is not a serious threat to the United States. We do face a serious threat in the international system. We face a peer competitor. And that’s China. Our policy in Eastern Europe is undermining our ability to deal with the most dangerous threat that we face today."

The MI complex is real and even last year they approved a larger budget than biden asked for, bipartisan. Buy their stock, it will go up and has 900% since they started the war in Aghan (and stayed for 20 years-about 5x longer than WWII).

 

[Nature Boy]

You don't have this quite correct. Yes there are lots of fabs across the world. They provide IC's for lots of products we buy. But not all fabs are on foreign shores nor have they been.

I live a mere few minutes from Intel's leading fabs here in Arizona. Just up the street from them is Microchip. Global Foundries in New York, several fabs in Texas....lots of them. And they were there long before Biden came along.

It was still a small portion and the new plants are looking to be 3-5 years away as they are captial intensive.

"Today Intel controls less than 10 percent, while TSMC’s share is 53 percent."

I believe we still rely them for about 40% of our total chips. There is still a massiver shortage. I ordered a new Ford in March, still don't have it. Couple options are going to be left out due to chip shortages. Just insane they didn't plan for this. But now it's basically socialism as the US taxpayer is going to pay for them to sell them back to us.

 

[Nature Boy]

They have broken ground on this one (the deal was cut almost three years ago). It is about ten miles down the road. My assessed property value has doubled in one year.

Samsung plans to build a $17 billion chip plant in Texas

The semiconductor factory in Taylor marks the largest-ever investment made by Samsung in the U.S.

www.cnbc.com

lol, gonna let a foreign company make them stil.

 

[Nature Boy]

@Nature Boy What, exactly, are you trying to ask or say? In reading the last 8-10 pages of posts, here's the best I can come up with. Is your stance that:

1. US involvement (sending aid of any kind, be that monetarily or goods) in the Ukraine war against Russia is wasted effort.
2. Moreover than wasted effort, there will be no significant impact to the US whether or not Russia takes over Ukraine.
3. The various funding of Ukrainian war (either $ or goods) is a scheme to line the pockets of various corrupt persons and groups, both domestic and foreign.
4. We should instead focus our attention to China, and the prevention of them "killing" the US as we know it.

Have I hit the most significant points? Or would you care to modify this list in any way?

If these are correct, here is my stance on these subject matters. Keep in mind that I have no level of experience or expertise in these fields, am not well read, and these are my opinions.
1 & 2 are opinion based and cannot be proven either way. 3 is likely.
#4 I don't feel is mutually exclusive to 1-3. All can happen at the same time.

You keep claiming you post facts, but change the parameters when countered. (Examples: your post #20,028 says we get nothing from Ukraine, is countered in post 20,031 providing factual data about Ukrainian exports, then your post 20,034 talks about wheat ... your post 20,034 says we get most of our (US) fertilizer from Russia, post 20,035 suggests we don't, 20,037 you give a dollar amount but say you don't know how much that is percentage wise, 20,052 gives additional information about it, and your reply in 20,059 is "So what" then goes on another tangent ... I'm stopping here - there are 8ish more pages after those.

You claim to "beat" other members, or accuse them of losing and running away as they provide facts and informed responses (example posts 20,164 & 20,165 - @Red Leg called out your post about US plans to put Nukes in Ukraine, you counter with quotes about Germany and Poland and try to insult him in the process (saying "again, try to read"). You later admit to @Scott CWO that you may have used term nukes instead of missiles (which was not the point in contention as it related to those posts, make no mention of confusing countries, and still somehow claiming to have beat him.

We are questioning what you are asking or what points you are trying to make. We are wondering why you ignore the facts and information provided (often from very knowledgeable individuals with first hand experience in the fields being discussed). Moreover we are dumbfounded by your insistence you know more than everyone here, and confusing fact vs opinion. Even those who have tried to engage in respectful conversations and from a stance of direct questioning can't get a straight response. Perhaps your real position is to just stir the pot and troll the forum. If you can't answer this post directly, concisely, and without antics, I'll assume the latter to be true and move on.

Yep, that is my stance. You can tell me I'm wrong. Maybe I would have been wrong about Vietnam, Aghan, Iraq, Somalia, etc. during those conflicts. Oddly, they all turned out as grftting disasters in all ways. Ukraine is NOT of vital importance to the survival of the USA. But it makes our own inflation issue 10x worse.

 

[VertigoBE]

lol, gonna let a foreign company make them stil.

In what world do you live that only production by American owned companies is okay?
Samsung would still be building it on US soil, providing US jobs and paying US taxes. Who cares who the final owner is and in what country he or she resides?

 

[Nature Boy]

In what world do you live that only production by American owned companies is okay?
Samsung would still be building it on US soil, providing US jobs and paying US taxes. Who cares who the final owner is and in what country he or she resides?

They are of vital National Security, that's why. The money goes to a foreign govt, that's why. Also because the US taxpayer is paying them to builkd them, which is batshit insane

 

[JOHN GRENZ]

 

[PARA45]

Copied from On a Lighter Note, thanks to @observe. I believe this fit here.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

It was still a small portion and the new plants are looking to be 3-5 years away as they are captial intensive.

"Today Intel controls less than 10 percent, while TSMC’s share is 53 percent."

I believe we still rely them for about 40% of our total chips. There is still a massiver shortage. I ordered a new Ford in March, still don't have it. Couple options are going to be left out due to chip shortages. Just insane they didn't plan for this. But now it's basically socialism as the US taxpayer is going to pay for them to sell them back to us.

Yes there is, but the leading technology has been kept here. No one planned for the shutdowns due to Covid nor the surge in demand post Covid.

U.S. taxpayer is going to pay them to make ICs? Are you sure about that? There is a difference in paying a company money and giving tax incentives to get a company to invest in your country and/or state. Giving away on one side however is a way to gain on the other. That is something AOC didn't get and lost an Amazon location over it.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

lol, gonna let a foreign company make them stil.

Umm okay, so now the U.S. is going to not allow foreign companies to make IC's? You'd rather send Samsung back out of the country?

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

They are of vital National Security, that's why. The money goes to a foreign govt, that's why. Also because the US taxpayer is paying them to builkd them, which is batshit insane

What money goes to a foreign government?

 

[WAB]

You guys are seriously wasting your time. @PARA45 nailed it with the meme.

 

[bowjijohn]

You guys have clearly got more patience than I do

it might be absolute brilliance but I stopped reading 20 pages ago

 

[Alistair]

You guys have clearly got more patience than I do

it might be absolute brilliance but I stopped reading 20 pages ago

The tl;dr version.

Nature Boy wants an isolationist America based purely on having read the comments section of some far right propaganda website (far as I can tell) and is very angry that America is willing to spend money to protect an ally and cement their eastern european interests. He clearly hasn't considered or simply doesn't understand the implications of what that actually means for America's position in the world. Also, half baked conspiracy theories.

He's now getting defensive as half the forum has piled on telling him how stupid of an idea that is. Also, he keeps moving the goal posts and has resorted to childish name calling.

It's been wild...

 

[steve white]

I only want to know what NatureBoy thinks about Africa being called "The Dark Continent"....

 

[Randy F]

I only want to know what NatureBoy thinks about Africa being called "The Dark Continent"....

...and who paid him to try to gain ground on the "Lighter Note" thread?

 

[Pheroze]

This analysis may be of interest to those watching the war in Ukraine.

Preliminary Lessons in Conventional Warfighting from Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine: February–July 2022

This study of the early phases of the 2022 war sheds light on Ukraine's strengths and vulnerabilities, and the need for further Western support.

rusi.org

 

[Pheroze]

This analysis may be of interest to those watching the war in Ukraine.

Preliminary Lessons in Conventional Warfighting from Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine: February–July 2022

This study of the early phases of the 2022 war sheds light on Ukraine's strengths and vulnerabilities, and the need for further Western support.

rusi.org

Some interesting commentary that comments on the popular narrative:

"Warfighting demands large initial stockpiles and significant slack capacity. Despite the prominence of anti-tank guided weapons in the public narrative, Ukraine blunted Russia’s attempt to seize Kyiv using massed fires from two artillery brigades. The difference in numbers between Russian and Ukrainian artillery was not as significant at the beginning of the conflict, with just over a 2:1 advantage"

 

[Ray B]

You guys have clearly got more patience than I do

it might be absolute brilliance but I stopped reading 20 pages ago

What I hear you saying is that you do not care for wrestling with a pig.