Welcome to 2023. Buckle up for the great roller coaster ride.
Saudi Arabia is no longer going to be trading in the USD. The rest of the Middle East will follow. Say “good bye” to the use of the dollar as a global reserve currency, and hello others.
Davos 2023: Saudi Arabia ‘open’ to discuss trading in non-dollar currencies – Al-Monitor: Independent, trusted coverage of the Middle East
He is a brave man to make this type of public announcement. Like Putin and Xi, this man deserve noble peace price for speeding up the liberation process of the oppressed people across the world. Obviously, after US suffered internal injury for initiating a full scale trade war against China, and failing to crush Russia economically with full scale looting and supporting ukraine war. The world no longer afraid of the head of the imperialistic barbarian nations.
Let’s talk food…
Pennsylvania Dutch Sour Cream Cabbage
Ingredients
- 1 medium head cabbage, shredded
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil (for frying)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 pint (2 cups) sour cream
- 2 cups distilled white vinegar
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
- Add cabbage, salt and pepper and cook until tender, 15 to 20 minutes.
- Mix sugar and flour together in a medium bowl, then add sour cream and mix well; finally stir in vinegar and mix well.
- Add mixture to cabbage and simmer all together until desired consistency is reached.
Let’s Talk About The Catastrophic Rise Of Egg Prices…
Do you remember when you could buy a dozen eggs for 99 cents?
It seems like it was only yesterday, but unfortunately those days are now gone for good.
Thanks to a variety of factors, egg prices have risen to levels that we have never seen before, and in some areas of the country significant shortages are being reported.
In fact, things are so bad that Whole Foods is apparently “now limiting egg carton purchases to two per person”.
This is extremely alarming, because millions of U.S. households have traditionally relied on eggs as a cheap source of protein.
Unfortunately, it appears that eggs will not be “cheap” for the foreseeable future. According to an article that originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the average price of a dozen eggs in California actually reached $7.37 this week…
Egg cases were bare across Los Angeles County this week, from Trader Joe’s in Long Beach to Amazon Fresh in Inglewood, Target in MidCity to Ralphs in Glendale. Those such as Hodges who found cartons were shocked by the sudden spike in price. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Anna Sanchez, 32, who scoured the half-empty shelves at a Smart & Final in University Park looking for a dozen eggs for less than $10. “The cheaper ones just aren’t there.” The average retail price for a dozen large eggs jumped to $7.37 in California this week, up from $4.83 at the beginning of December and just $2.35 at this time last year, data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture show.
Can you imagine paying 7 dollars for a carton of eggs?
I certainly cannot.
Thankfully, prices are not quite as high elsewhere in the nation. One of the reasons why egg prices in California are so absurd is because of a new law that went into effect last January…
Since the law went into effect last January, all eggs sold in California have to be produced in cage-free settings. But cage-free production takes much more space than conventional egg production, and California producers aren’t able to keep up with demand. “They’re selling everything they can possibly grow,” Mattos said.
Of course egg prices have also been skyrocketing in states that do not have such laws.
All over the nation, people are now paying 4 or 5 dollars for a dozen eggs, and many believe that our ongoing bird flu pandemic is the primary factor that is causing prices to go completely nuts…
But egg prices are up significantly more than other foods — even more than chicken or turkey — because egg farmers were hit harder by the bird flu. More than 43 million of the 58 million birds slaughtered over the past year to control the virus have been egg-laying chickens, including some farms with more than a million birds apiece in major egg-producing states like Iowa.
More than 50 million chickens and turkeys have also been wiped out in Europe.
So when you combine the two totals, so far well over 100 million chickens and turkeys have been killed in just the United States and Europe.
And there is no end to the bird flu pandemic in sight.
This is a major crisis, but up to this point the mainstream media has not been focusing on it very much.
On top of everything else, egg farmers have had to deal with rapidly rising costs in recent months.
In fact, there are some in the industry that insist that the huge cost increases that egg farmers have been hit with over the past year are even a bigger factor than the bird flu…
But the president and CEO of the American Egg Board trade group, Emily Metz, said she believes all the cost increases farmers have faced in the past year were a bigger factor in the price increases than bird flu. “When you’re looking at fuel costs go up, and you’re looking at feed costs go up as much as 60%, labor costs, packaging costs — all of that … those are much much bigger factors than bird flu for sure,” Metz said.
Many anticipate that these costs will only go higher in 2023.
And that will mean even higher prices for the rest of us.
I really feel badly for small bakeries. They use lots and lots of eggs, and if egg prices continue to go up many small bakeries could soon be forced to close…
“Small businesses especially, you live and die by what your food costs are,” said Tracy Ann Devore, owner of KnowRealityPie in Eagle Rock, who recently let go a dishwasher to stem rising costs. “If this keeps up for another three to six months, it could be a tipping point for some bakeries to close.” For Devore and many others, the new egg crisis, combined with uncertainty about when it could ebb, has been more unsettling than the gradual price creep of dairy products, flour and produce. “At some point, you can’t raise the price anymore,” Devore said. “There’s been points where I’ve cried recently, because I thought, ‘How are we going to keep going with this?'”
Our food industry was stable for so many years, but now we are witnessing a dramatic shift.
Costs are going through the roof, and supply problems just keep popping up.
Just like we have witnessed at other times, empty shelves are starting to be reported at certain supermarkets around the nation…
Social media is brimming with reports of missing food items at Kroger supermarket locations across the country. A repeat of early 2020 when toilet paper and other essentials ran bare, the start of 2023 is seeing “a lot of empty shelves” at Kroger, according to numerous reports, some containing video evidence of lingering supply chain problems.
We are getting dangerously close to the days that I have been warning about.
As we are hit by one crisis after another throughout 2023, I expect our supply chain problems to continue to intensify.
So I would encourage you to stock up while you still can.
Yes, prices may seem ridiculously high now, but the truth is that they aren’t going to be getting any lower than they are at this moment.
Living in China vs Living in America
This is what I see every day.
Surprises from Japan
On January 12, Japan began building a Self-Defense Force base on Mageshima, an island in Kagoshima Prefecture. The facility will be constructed as part of a plan to relocate the joint naval and marine exercises with the US. It would serve as a new training facility for US carrier-based F/A-18 Super Hornets and F-35 fighters to simulate aircraft carrier landings close to China. The SDF will also employ the site as a logistic and maintenance depot to defend Japan’s Nansei southwest islands. The ministry also intends to construct a runway, hangars, and pier facilities for ships used by the Self-Defense Forces. Although the development is anticipated to take roughly four years, the ministry wants to finish the runway and associated facilities in about 24 months. ...
When Big Hair Roamed The Earth: The Hairstyle That Defined The 1960s
Not too much to say that big hair style roamed the earth during the 1960s. The bigger the hair, the more beautiful. It was a general trend for ’60s women. Check out these lovely snapshots to know the reason why it defined the 1960s fashion.
Wuhan Metro | The City of Design
This is the subway in Wuhan. If you recall, the narrative out of the USA is that Wuhan was dirty and filthy and that was because the “Wuhan virus” came into being. This is the reality…
6 Illustrations That Sum Up Instagram Perfectly
How many photos of food, hotel pools and sketchy supplements advertised by people who have nothing to do with nutrition have you seen the last time you were on Instagram? “Too many” is probably the answer you are looking for. Tired of this ridiculous Instagram culture, Russian artist Anton Gudim (previously) created a series of tongue-in-cheek illustrations that sum it all up perfectly.
When traveling, you can’t help but notice how some people are more focused on taking the perfect picture for their social media account instead of actually enjoying the place they are at. But then again, how else would your followers know you’ve been to the Eiffel tower? Or was it the Big Ben? Who cares, really, as long as the picture collected a lot of likes. “It’s based on my own experience, I’ve seen millions of photos like this on Instagram,” said the artist in an interview with Bored Panda. “It’s not my intention to provide social commentary on the shallow and narcissistic habits of the modern world, that’s for the reader to decide with their own interpretation.” Anton says his comics are a way to discover the depths of his own imagination and that he’s glad they can inspire and entertain other people. “I am not out to make people laugh, but I do believe that it’s important for artists to add a little humor into their works,” says the artist.
Will The Implosion Of The Tech Industry Bring Down The Entire U.S. Economy?
The tech industry has become one of the central pillars of our economy, and tech stocks led the way up during the stock market boom.
But now tech stocks have been crashing and many of our biggest tech industry companies have been laying off large numbers of workers.
If the strongest sector of our economy continues to rapidly deteriorate in 2023, what will that mean for our weaker sectors?
I think that the answer to that question is obvious.
The truth is that we are in far bigger trouble than “the experts” realize, but most people still assume that everything will work out just fine somehow.
If economic conditions were really about to “return to normal”, the tech industry would not be laying off thousands upon thousands of workers. The following comes from a CNN article entitled “Silicon Valley layoffs go from bad to worse”…
At Amazon and other tech companies, the second half of last year was marked by hiring freezes, layoffs and other cost-cutting measures at a number of household names in Silicon Valley. But if 2022 was the year the good times ended for these tech companies, 2023 is already shaping up to be a year when people at those companies brace for how much worse things can get.
Did you catch that last part?
Even CNN is admitting that 2023 will be even worse for the tech industry than 2022 was.
Of course last year was really, really bad for the tech industry. According to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, tech layoffs “were up 649% in 2022”.
I was floored when I first saw that figure.
649 percent is a pretty big shift.
And one prominent private equity CEO just warned Fox Business that we could see a “bloodbath” for tech stocks during the months ahead…
In an interview with FOX Business on Friday, Eric Schiffer, CEO of the private equity firm, The Patriarch Organization, said: “Because tech is so oversold, there might be potential exits for a limited short-term bear rally, but there is a danger facing shareholders.” “Shareholders should brace themselves for a deeper brutal tech bloodbath driven by the Fed and its ‘Terminator’ like mission to raise rates and wipe out inflation,” he warned. “Many tech companies will enact job carnage in the first quarter, with Salesforce and Amazon just the start.”
The tech-heavy Nasdaq is already down by about a third from the peak of the market, and trillions of tech stock wealth has already been wiped out.
So what will things look like if we actually see another “bloodbath” for tech stocks this year?
At this point, I don’t think that most Americans realize what is coming.
Mass layoffs are already starting to happen all over America, and one economist that was just interviewed by CNN believes that conditions will be even worse “by the end of the first quarter”…
“I think we’re seeing an inflection point; the rate of jobs growth is slowing and a lot of these tech layoffs that we’re hearing about, I think are going to start materializing across the broader economy by the end of the first quarter,” John Leer, chief economist at Morning Consult told CNN’s Chief Business Correspondent Christine Romans in an interview Friday.
Sadly, the truth is that the U.S. economy has been bleeding good jobs for quite some time now.
According to Fox Business, the official numbers that the government has been giving us show that the U.S. economy has been losing an average of 2,100 full-time jobs since May…
But there are more disturbing trends present in the data. The economy has been losing full-time jobs at an alarming rate: 2,100 every day since May. Employers are shifting from full-time to part-time jobs, which often occurs before those businesses stop hiring altogether. Then, layoffs arrive.
This is often what we see as our economy heads into a major downturn.
First, many employers start shifting from full-time employees to part-time employees, and then when things get bad enough they just start dumping workers.
And at this point we are already starting to see some of the wealthiest companies in America let people go. In fact, Goldman Sachs is going to be giving thousands of highly paid employees the axe starting on Wednesday…
The global investment bank is letting go of as many as 3,200 employees starting Wednesday, according to a person with knowledge of the firm’s plans. That amounts to 6.5% of the 49,100 employees Goldman had in October, which is below the 8% reported last month as the upper end of possible cuts.
Meanwhile, the cost of living continues to go even higher.
Earlier today, I was stunned to learn that natural gas bills for many residents of southern California could soon double…
Southern California Gas Co. and San Diego Gas & Electric have issued stark warnings to customers that their January natural gas bills could double, citing factors for historically high wholesale costs that include sinking inventories, supply constraints and a cold start to winter that has soaked the West Coast.
And even though the Federal Reserve has been taking extreme measures to fight inflation, food prices just continue to soar to absurd heights.
Survey after survey has shown that a solid majority of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck right now.
As the cost of living becomes increasingly oppressive, more Americans are turning to their credit cards for help…
New data released by the Census Bureau this week found that more than 35% of households used credit cards or loans in December to assist with spending needs in the past week. That marks an increase from 32% in November and just 21% in April 2021, according to the Household Pulse Survey. The rise in credit card usage is somewhat concerning because interest rates are astronomically high right now. The average credit card APR, or annual percentage rate, set a new record high of 19.14% last week, according to a Bankrate.com database that goes back to 1985. The previous record was 19% in July 1991.
The greed of the credit card companies seemingly knows no bounds.
As I have repeatedly warned my readers, you do not want to be carrying a lot of debt during the hard economic times that are coming.
19.14 percent is the average rate on credit card balances now, and that means that half of the country has rates that are even higher than that.
Ouch!
If you are currently carrying credit card debt, I would encourage you to get that paid off as soon as you can.
Because economic conditions are only going to get harsher from here, and you definitely don’t want to be financially crippled by high interest debt during the severe crisis that is rapidly approaching.
SHEN ZHEN SUBWAY Gang Xia North Station
All of these videos are taken in different cities. It shows China as most people who live here observe it. I have to laugh when some jack ass says that China is a third world nation.
Pennsylvania Dutch Cherry Pie
Ingredients
- 1 pastry circle from 15 ounce refrigerated pie crust
- 2 (21 ounce) cans cherry pie filling
- 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon grated orange peel
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/3 cup butter or margarine
- 1/4 cup unblanched almonds
Instructions
- Heat oven to 425 degrees F.
- Fit pie crust into a 9-inch pie plate. Lightly dampen underside of crust and turn edge under pressing firmly to rim of pie plate.
- In a large bowl, combine pie filling and orange peel. Spoon into pie crust. Set aside.
- In a small bowl combine flour, sugar and cinnamon. Using pastry cutter or blender, cut in butter until it resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle mixture over cherry pie filling, covering completely and evenly.
- Bake for 20 minutes until filling is hot and top is golden brown.
- Sprinkle with almonds.
The More You Connect, The Less You Connect
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374We also created a series of cartoons about how smartphones have altered our lives, not necessarily for the better. The caption at the bottom of the image reads “The More You Connect, The Less You Connect” – do you agree? . . . . .
China’s Infrastructure from the FUTURE… (America embarrassed)
Come on! How can the USA even dare compare?
US military “setting the theatre” for war with China
In a remarkably frank interview with the Financial Times yesterday, the top US Marine general in Japan declared that US-NATO successes against Russia in Ukraine were a product of advance planning and preparations—“setting the theatre” for war in military jargon. That was exactly what the Pentagon was doing in Japan and Asia, he explained, in preparing for conflict against China over Taiwan.
“Why have we achieved the level of success we’ve achieved in Ukraine?” Lieutenant General James Bierman asked rhetorically. A big part of it, he explained, was that after what he termed “Russian aggression” in 2014 and 2015, “we earnestly got after preparing for future conflict: training for the Ukrainians, pre-positioning of supplies, identification of sites from which we could operate support, sustain operations.”
“We call that setting the theatre. And we are setting the theatre in Japan, in the Philippines, in other locations.” In other words, the US is setting a trap for China by goading it into taking military action against Taiwan in the same way that it provoked Russia into invading Ukraine following the US-backed coup in 2014 that toppled a pro-Russian government.
Lieutenant General James Bierman is commanding general of the Third Marine Expeditionary Force (III MEF) and of Marine Forces Japan. Significantly, the III MEF is the only Marine crisis response force permanently stationed outside the US. In other words, Bierman and his Marines would be on the front line of any US-led conflict with China.
As the Financial Times explained, the III MEF is “at the heart of a sweeping reform of the Marine Corps.” Its focus is being shifted from the “war on terror” in the Middle East to “creating small units that specialise in operating quickly and clandestinely in the islands and straits of east Asia and the western Pacific to counter Beijing’s ‘anti-access area denial’ strategy.”
The US plans for war against China—known as AirSea Battle—envisage a massive air and missile assault on Chinese military bases and strategic industries supported by warships and submarines. The Pentagon has been increasingly concerned about China’s military abilities to defend its territory and secure neighbouring seas—“anti access area denial” with its own missiles and naval vessels.
US war preparations with Japan are proceeding apace. As Bierman boasted, the two militaries have “seen exponential increases . . . just over the last year” in their activities on territory from which they would operate during a war. In recent exercises, the Marines for the first time established bilateral ground tactical co-ordination centres rather than liaising with a separate Japanese command point.
The aim is far closer integration of American and Japanese forces. Instead of Japanese military groups being rotated to operate alongside US forces in Japan, specific units have now been designated as part of the “stand-in force” alongside their US Marine, Navy and Air Force counterparts.
Bierman also pointed out that similar preparations are being made in the Philippines where the government intends to allow the US to preposition weapons and other supplies on five more bases in addition to five where it already has access. “You gain a leverage point, a base of operations, which allows you to have a tremendous head start in different operational plans,” he enthused.
The US-led war against Russia in Ukraine and its intensifying confrontation with China are two sides of a strategy to dominate the vast Eurasian landmass that threatens to plunge humanity into a nuclear holocaust.
While Bierman is highlighting the advanced operational planning for war with China, it is being matched by huge increases in military spending by both the US and Japan.
Stars and Stripes reported on January 2 that the new US defence budget approved last month by President Biden included billions of dollars for new military infrastructure and strategic initiatives across the Pacific. The Indo-Pacific Command already has some 375,000 military and civilian personnel working across the region.
The Command’s headquarters in Hawaii get $87.9 million for barracks; $103 million for upgrading missile storage facilities; $111 million for a company operations facility, and $29 million for an Army National Guard Readiness Center.
The Navy will receive $32 billion alone for new warships and 36 F-35 aircraft, each costing about $89 million. The funding also includes $621 million for two SSN-774 Virginia class attack submarines that are expected to conduct operations in the Pacific and receive maintenance at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard.
To counter Chinese weapons, the Army is upgrading artillery and missile systems, seeking new longer-range cannons and hypersonic weapons while modifying air- and sea-launched missiles and cruise missiles for ground launch by Army units.
The Japanese government announced last month that it would double military spending over the next five years between 2023 and 2027 to about $US80 billion or 2 percent of GDP. The associated national defence documents explicitly identify China as “an unprecedented and the greatest strategic challenge.”
The Japanese military will buy a range of offensive weapons, including cruise missiles like Lockheed Martin’s Tomahawk and Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM). It is also planning to upgrade its own Type 12 guided missiles that can be fired from the surface, ships, or aircrafts to strike naval vessels, and to manufacture its own hypersonic guided missiles.
Japan will also boost its missile sites. It has already begun to militarise its southern islands immediately adjacent to Taiwan and off the Chinese mainland, including Amami, Miyako, Ishigaki, and Yonaguni Islands. Tokyo has deployed or intends to deploy missile and electronic warfare units to these islands, in addition to constructing ammunition and fuel depots.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida set off Sunday on a tour of Europe and North America focussed on bolstering military ties. He will visit both Britain and Italy, which are joint partners in a deal agreed last month to build new advanced fighters. He is also expected to sign an agreement in Britain to establish the framework for visits by each other’s military forces.
Kishida’s final stop will be in the US where he will hold talks with Biden at the White House that will discuss military collaboration, Japan’s purchase of US missiles and efforts to block China’s access to advanced semi-conductors. As part of the US economic war on China, Biden has imposed a series of bans on the sale to China of advanced computer chips or the machinery required to develop and manufacture them. The Japanese defence and foreign ministers are due to hold a round of talks with the American counterparts on Wednesday in Washington.
At the same time, the US is about to conduct a provocative, official trip to Taiwan—an island that it de-facto recognises under the One China policy as being part of China with Beijing as the legitimate government. Terry McCartin, the top US official responsible for trade with China, is due to arrive in Taipei on Saturday to lead a delegation that will include officials from other government agencies.
The visit to Taiwan by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last August, sanctioned by the White House, provoked sharp tensions and a dangerous show of force by both sides in surrounding waters. By strengthening trade and military ties with Taipei, Washington is deliberately pushing Beijing into a corner to force it to fire the first shot in a war over Taiwan that the US has prepared for in advance.
As Lieutenant General Bierman crudely explained: “As we square off with the Chinese adversary, who is going to own the starting pistol and is going to have the ability potentially to initiate hostilities . . . we can identify decisive key terrain that must be held, secured, defended, leveraged.”
Pennsylvania Dutch Chicken and Flat Dumplings
Ingredients
- 1 large (5 pound) washed chicken
- 1 large onion, quartered
- 3 stalks celery, cut into large chunks
- 1 teaspoon whole peppercorn
- 2 1/2 teaspoons salt
Instructions
- Place chicken in a 6- to 8-quart stockpot. Add remaining ingredients. Bring to boil. Simmer until chicken is done, about 2 hours.
- When cool, remove bones and fat from chicken. Cut into pieces, and return to pot.
- Noodles: In a bowl, mix together 2 cups flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Make a well in the center, and gradually work 4 eggs into the flour until stiff dough is formed, adding water a little at a time if necessary. Knead until smooth. Divide dough in half. Roll each half as thin as possible then cut into thin 1-2 inch squares.
- Bring the broth back to rolling boil. Drop noodle squares one at a time, making sure each are drenched in broth. Reduce heat, cover and continue to cook until noodles are done, about 8 minutes. DON’T PEEK!
- Serve in large bowl and ladle onto plates at the table. Serve with chopped onion.
Photo Manipulations by Geir Akselsen
Fantastic photo manipulations by Geir Akselsen, a graphic designer and photographer from Norway.
Japan joining US’ chip export ban against China could leave its semiconductor industry stifled: experts
Japan, once a semiconductor giant half a century ago but then brutally beaten down by the US, is reportedly moving to join the US in expanding chip export controls on China, as leaders of the two countries are set to meet on Friday.
“For better or worse, Japan’s semiconductor strategy is moving in accordance with what the US wants,” a chip industry source was reported as saying by Reuters, while Chinese experts said that the Japanese government is losing independence even in its advantageous industry. If it keeps letting itself become a “sidekick” of the US, Japan’s semiconductor industry could be completely strangled in the next five to 10 years, they warned.
At a press briefing on Friday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said in response to the possible semiconductor export restrictions that the US has repeatedly abused export controls, politicized and weaponized economic and trade issues, imposed economic coercion on allies, and maliciously suppressed Chinese enterprises by decoupling supply chains, which seriously undermines market rules and the international trade order. It will not only harm the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises, but also damage the stability of the global supply chain.
US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida are set to meet in Washington on Friday. A senior US administration official told media that the two leaders are expected to discuss security and global economy issues, as well as semiconductor exports to China.
American officials have been quick to play down the differences between the two allies while touting an ever-closer strategic alignment with Japan, praising Tokyo’s plan for its biggest military buildup since World War II as its rivalry with China in the region grows, Reuters reported on Friday.
“I think there’s a very, very similar vision of the challenges,” a senior US official said on Wednesday, according to the report, adding that while Japanese export restrictions may not be exactly the same as US controls, “I don’t think the Japanese question the basic premise that we need to be working closely together on this.”
However, Japan’s hesitation is evident. The Kishida administration, while admitting its country is broadly in line with the goals of the White House, has been vague about to what extent it will join in.
The hesitation comes largely from the country’s leading chip producers’ reliance on China to thrive. According to media reports, Japan is a top producer of specialized tooling equipment needed to manufacture advanced chips, and its companies hold 27 percent of global market share.
Tokyo Electron, Japan’s leading chip manufacturing equipment maker, relies on China for about a quarter of its revenue.
Japan’s semiconductor industry in the 80s and 90s was once in the world’s absolute leading position, holding half the global share in the late 1980s. But it was later suppressed by the US in various ways, including export restrictions similar to today’s, which allowed chipmakers in South Korea and China’s Taiwan to make deeper inroads into the industry.
According to a report by the White House in June 2021, the world’s semiconductor manufacturing capacity is now concentrated in East Asia, with China’s Taiwan accounting for 20 percent of the global total in 2019, followed by South Korea, Japan, the Chinese mainland and the US.
Japan still has some residual advantages in the industry, leading not on key links but in some upstream technology, such as optical technology. But on the whole, Japan no longer has much say in this field, Lü Xiang, an expert on US studies and a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Friday.
The interests of Japan and the US in this regard are definitely not the same, the expert noted, as the US has its own upstream suppliers in Europe and has little room left for Japan.
“If Japan is to tie itself to the US-desired semiconductor closed loop that excludes China, it will seriously reduce Japan’s few existing advantages. In the next five to 10 years, if such a closed loop is really formed, it will cut off Japan’s ability to independently develop the global market, and the Japanese semiconductor industry could be utterly stifled,” Lü warned.
While on the technological front Japan still has some strength, its political positions are completely manipulated by the US, and it’s growing even more reliant now with the current government seeming much weaker and more helpless, observers said.
Apart from discussions on semiconductors, Japan and the US are expected to expand cooperation in areas including artificial intelligence, quantum and other cutting-edge technologies in a bid to counter China. A joint document is expected to be released on strengthening the Japan-US alliance after the leaders’ talks.
In addition to cutting off supply chains for China, top defense and diplomatic officials from both countries have vowed to strengthen their military alliance and security cooperation, citing the “greatest strategic challenge” from China. Chinese experts said that a closer military alliance with the US, while adopting a more aggressive posture, would mean a more dangerous position for Japan, and the provocative military alliance would not be welcomed by regional countries.
Thinking of preemptive nuclear strike? Why bother to find excuse?
Oh, that's fucking great! What idiot is running Finland these days? -MM
Rescue the kitten that was in bad condition( Emergency). God bless this poor kitten
Heartbreaking, but with a very happy ending.
Big hair 60’s number 10. That’s bloody Elvis under that hair.
Looks like China is offically reopening? Don’t forget about 80’s big hair!