“The real differentiator here is the acquisition strategy, with a lot of competition -- a lot of ‘fly before you buy’ -- built in,” CSIS' Tom Karako says. “The relatively longer NGI development timeline for homeland ballistic missile defense can be mitigated by near-term improvements” in ground missile defense.
Walden Bello:
". Let us just say that China is not engaged in an arms race with the U.S. and that its strategic posture is defensive. This does not mean that it does not engage in the tactical offensive in areas where it feels it faces an existential threat, like the South China Sea."
"In May 2021, Beijing successfully landed a spacecraft on Mars, only the third country to accomplish that after the U.S. and Russia. Nor was this a fluke. Baidu launched a quantum computer that people will be able to access via a smartphone app. Construction is underway on the largest pulsed-power plant in the world, leading specialists to predict that China could achieve nuclear fusion energy by 2028. Beijing is even funding civilian hypersonic transport."
A strong state, it might be noted — one that was far stronger owing to its revolutionary origins than the classic developmental states of the Asia Pacific rim — had made the difference.
In any event, China is now the center of global capital accumulation. In the popular image, it’s the “locomotive of the world economy,” accounting for 28 percent of all growth worldwide in the five years from 2013 to 2018 according to the IMF — more than twice the share of the United States.
A world war was declared on 7 October. No news station reported on it, even though we will all have to suffer its effects. That day, the Biden administration launched a technological offensive against China, placing stringent limits and extensive controls on the export not only of integrated circuits, but also their designs, the machines used to ‘write’ them on silicon and the tools these machines produce. Henceforth, if a Chinese factory requires any of these components to produce goods – like Apple’s mobile phones, or GM’s cars – other firms must request a special licence to export them.
A contact from Norway shared this article, as the topic has not been discussed in the US media. NATO is forming a world army, as we have seen with troops being sent throughout Europe to train forces, specifically Eastern European forces. The northern nation of Norway has announced that the US will begin to manage
These are not experimental test vehicles, and this is not a drill. Many of San Francisco’s ghostly driverless cars are commercial robotaxis, directly competing with taxis, Uber and Lyft, and public transit. They are a real, albeit still marginal, part of the city’s transportation system. And the companies that operate them, Cruise and Waymo, appear poised to continue expanding their services in San Francisco, Austin, Phoenix, and perhaps even Los Angeles in the coming months.
By
Amber A’Lee Frost
Jacobin, Januari 2024: Om tonårstidningen Teen Vogue som läses av mer än 8 miljoner: "Även om de exakta siffrorna är omtvistade är en sak helt klar: långt fler vuxna - mestadels millenniegenerationen, även när vi är på väg in i medelåldern - läser tonårstidningen som kallar sig "den unga människans guide till att erövra (och rädda) världen" än tonåringar."
"Most damningly, just 1.7 percent of their May 2018 audience was 17 or younger. Only 2.6 percent were 18 to 24 years old. At the absolute most generous estimate, in Teen Vogue’s digital audience — the only audience they still have after they shelved their print edition with a final copy featuring Hillary Clinton on the cover — 1 in 20 readers is an actual teenager."
Released On: 12 Feb 2024
Stephen Sackur is in New York City to speak to Cornel West, the high-profile philosopher, writer and activist who has launched his own bid for the White House. Running as independent, he looks unlikely to win but could this anti-war socialist take enough votes from Joe Biden to help Donald Trump get elected a second time?
Alternative candidate Dr. Cornel West recently said on BBC Hard Talk: “When I look at Trump, I see civil war number two. When I look at Biden, I see world war number three.”
CNN 31.3.24 video Annelle Sheline, who served as a foreign affairs officer at the Office of Near Eastern Affairs in the Department of State's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, explains her decision to resign from the Department based on the US response to the war in Gaza.
Will America and China heed the warnings of twentieth-century catastrophe?
Kirj. Odd Arne Westad, "Odd Arne Westad (s. 5. tammikuuta 1960 Ålesund, Norja) on norjalainen historioitsija. Hän on erikoistunut poliittiseen historiaan. Hän on julkaissut tutkimuksia Kiinan historiasta ja kylmän sodan historiasta. Westad on toiminut historian professorina Yalen yliopistossa vuodesta 2019 lähtien
Is de-dollarization finally here? (Juni 2024) "A Russian commodities exporter told Reuters: "We don't care, we have yuan." According to the report, China's yuan has ousted the dollar to become MOEX's most traded currency, accounting for 53.6% of all foreign currency traded in May."
Young, hot upstarts want to shorten the kill chain with AI weapons
William Hartung
Jul 03, 2024 [earlier: https://tomdispatch.com/philosopher-kings-or-new-age-militarists/ ]]
...the approach advocated by Brose and his acolytes is going to make war more likely as technological hubris instills a belief that the United States can indeed “beat” a rival nuclear-armed power like China in a conflict, if only we invest in a nimble new high-tech force.