Miscellaneous News

[iewgnem]

As Glenn Luk said,

View attachment 166533

Lithos isn't stupid or a fool. But he really did think that China did not have the expertise to build an EUV machine. Like myself so many years ago, he yapped about a country whose scientific progress he is not familiar with. Now he's moving goalposts to avoid looking like a moron instead of simply admitting that he ran his mouth.

This is, by the way, a huge sign of immaturity. It's poor emotional control. If he simply swallowed his pride and contributed to the discussion productively, he'd probably have much more salient points to make as he is clearly someone who's in the industry. A sales rep or engineer I think.

Looks pretty stupid and foolish to me, but that might just be the norm for the west.

 

[HighGround]

Looks pretty stupid and foolish to me, but that might just be the norm for the west.

He isn't a fool, but he made such grand sweeping statements, that he either has to admit he made a big miss, or resort to intellectual dishonesty. He chose the latter.

 

[pmc]

Looks as if giant spiders took over a town with the amount of webs cables hanging everywhere.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/2002096772529991950

i have read that Russia will prefer fighting a drone war with Ukraine. drones are manpower intensive, slow, lightly loaded, easily intercepted (into context) and easily to clean up. Putin repeatedly says we are leader in drones or want to become leader. I think this trigger Ukranians that drone is the way to go. This clear deception.

 

[Kalum Pupeter]

Trump arms Taiwan to block China's potential D-Day-style landing​

Weapons shift from F-16 to Javelins, drones and artillery.

WASHINGTON -- Weapons that have proved effective in destroying Russian tanks and command posts in Ukraine form the core of the $11.1 billion arms package the Trump administration approved selling to Taiwan this week.
The deal marks a shift to weapons systems specifically focused on preventing a Chinese landing on the shores of Taiwan and away from the big ticket items like the F-16 fighter jets and warships that Taipei preferred to procure in past years, analysts say.
On Wednesday, the U.S. State Department announced that it had approved eight arms sales agreements to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States (TECRO), the de facto embassy.

They include 82 high-mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS) and 420 Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) worth $4.05 billion; 60 self-propelled howitzers and 60 carrier ammunition tracked vehicles worth $4.03 billion; 1,050 Javelin missiles and related equipment worth $375 million: and 1,545 tube-launched, optically tracked, wire-guided (TOW) missiles worth $353 million. Also on the sales list were Anduril's ALTIUS-700M system loitering munitions, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that has been described as kamikaze drones, worth $1.1 billion.

"This package is full of weapons that will make a Chinese lodgment on Taiwan difficult to execute and sustain," said retired U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery, a senior fellow at the Washington think tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies. "The UAVs will assist both in preventing Chinese forces from getting ashore and maneuvering once ashore," he said. The ground systems, both long-range precision-guided missiles such as ATACMS and HIMARS and shorter-range systems like howitzers, Javelin and TOW, "will place Chinese forces at risk."

The more counter-intervention munitions Taiwan can field, the greater the risk they put the Chinese ground forces under, Montgomery continued. Rupert Hammond-Chambers, the president of the U.S.-Taiwan Business Council (USTBC), said the HIMARS and howitzers could play an essential role in destroying ships and landing craft seeking to disembark Chinese forces on Taiwan's shores and any forces that have managed to establish a bridgehead.

"This bundle of notifications -- a record amount notified at one time in U.S. security assistance for Taiwan -- is a response to the threat from China and speaks to the demand from Mr. Trump that partners and allies do more to secure their own defense," he said. "We continue to see the prioritization of platforms and munitions that address a D-Day style attack on the island." Hammond-Chambers noted that none of the new weapons address gray zone, blockade or quarantine domains -- which Taiwan sought to address previously -- but are laser focused on preventing a landing.

A U.S. government source noted that there are two major reasons for Taiwan's shift in priorities. One was the visit to Taiwan of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in August 2022 and China's missile launches that followed. Second was the success and failures of Ukraine fending off Russia's invasion. Whereas Taiwan previously sought to acquire expensive platforms such as fighters and warships to reassure the Taiwanese public and to send a symbolic message to Beijing, the recent focus is much more pragmatic, the source said. This marks the second arms sales to Taiwan in President Donald Trump's second administration, but at a much larger scale. In November, the sale of spare and repair parts for F-16 fighters, C-130 transport aircraft and Taiwan's indigenous fighter planes worth $330 million was approved.

Jie Gao, a research associate at the Asia Society Policy Institute's Center for China Analysis, noted the timing of the announcement is interesting. The arms sales proposal comes at a time "when U.S.-China trade talks have been moved forward to a more stabilized stage," she said. "Beijing of course will protest, but arms sales wouldn't prompt Beijing to walk away from the trade agreements that the two sides have agreed on."

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There has been absolutely no serious response from Beijing. While they are arming our enemies to the teeth, we are not returning the favour with Russia, Belarus, Cuba, or Venezuela. Instead, all we have seen is a mild warning. Unsurprisingly, this has emboldened them, as there are effectively no repercussions beyond a brief rebuke from the toothless Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA). I genuinely wonder what that institution has achieved over the past 10 to 15 years. Does anyone have any insight?

 

[pmc]

EU's €90 Billion Loan to Ukraine Won't Use Frozen Russian Assets​

the amount is too small for size of Ukraine (it is among the widest country in the world and the most resource rich) and this is 2026 when Russia tech has exponentially advanced. Europeans are not understanding Russians approach even after four years.
when Putin is talking to these people he has to clarify status of pets like dogs and pigs.

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Putin spoke about a call from the Kremlin directly to the front to the company commander.​

Putin described how he called a company commander from Dagestan at the front from the Kremlin.

 

[siegecrossbow]

Most of are thinking of geopolitics, but I have some other things to add too.

Although we still have 2 weeks left in the year, has anyone noticed that 2025 has gone by without a single mass casualty incident with knives and car rammings, when before sadly these were happening quite a bit in China? Things are still not all hunky dory in the Mainland with the real estate recession, youth unemployment, and stagnant consumer spending. Still, as hard as things are, clearly something has been to done to mitigate the number of crazies and down on their luck people who wish to take their anger out on society.

Perhaps its tighter control measures that the greater public is best not knowing about. But I like to think its that through the hardships, Chinese society is becoming more cohesive and imbued with a greater sense of responsibility towards the greater good. Whether it can be kept up remains to be seen, but hey for now consider it one of the government's more understated achievements of 2025.

Chinese people are becoming aware of the kind of shit happening across the pond. No amount of SeeSeePee propaganda can shift opinions quite effectively as stories straight from the horses’ mouth, courtesy of rednote.

 

[GulfLander]

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Why NYT link only showing china in the link text, was it specific?

 

[henrik]

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There has been absolutely no serious response from Beijing. While they are arming our enemies to the teeth, we are not returning the favour with Russia, Belarus, Cuba, or Venezuela. Instead, all we have seen is a mild warning. Unsurprisingly, this has emboldened them, as there are effectively no repercussions beyond a brief rebuke from the toothless Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA). I genuinely wonder what that institution has achieved over the past 10 to 15 years. Does anyone have any insight?

The problem is that they could not find a better foreign minster, after they fired the previous foreign minister.

 

[GulfLander]

Nexperia's China unit switches to local firms for wafer supplies- document

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[TPenglake]

Chinese people are becoming aware of the kind of shit happening across the pond. No amount of SeeSeePee propaganda can shift opinions quite effectively as stories straight from the horses’ mouth, courtesy of rednote.

But that doesn't have anything to do with social tensions in China that previously lead people to commit public acts of violence. That's a domestic issue where solving it stems from dealing with things actually happening in the country.