Home » Open thread 8/10/21

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Open thread 8/10/21 — 42 Comments

  1. Expat: Thanks for the link, looking forward to reading more. If you are interested in how we got here with regards to our relations with China, I suggest that you read “Dealing With China” by Henry Paulson. I have mixed feelings about “Hank”. Obviously a very smart guy in many respects, but his eagerness to make “deals” with China has landed us in the sh*t that we now find ourselves.

    Expat, where are you in Germany? I spent 4 years in Munich and Berlin from 1993 – 1997 working on big infrastructure projects – a great time to be in Germany. These days, I am not to sure.

    I followed “Davids Medienkritik” for a good source on German American relations back in the day, but he has been inactive for a while now.

  2. Andrew Cuomo to step down as governor in 14 days. Well, that’s one way to avoid prison time for murdering thousands. Look over here, not there.

  3. I read “The Hundred Year Marathon” a year to two ago. It’s very good. I was slightly uncomfortable with its consistent thesis, though there is a substantial amount of pro and con viewpoints sprinkled in.

    Zaphod joked a while back about the US accidentally dropping a JDAM through a window of the Chinese consulate(?) in Serbia killing several “diplomats” in the Kosovo war. The author, Pillsbury, cites this as a big turning point in US – China relations.

  4. Xylourgos,
    I lived in Konstanz for several years, but now I live in Marburg. I have a hard time dealing with Germany now. They seem to get most of their news about America from CNN. They are still very interested in showing that they are better than Holocaust Germany,but money and business rules.I remember when Obama signed the deal with Iran, they were there within a day to sign business deals. And they still like Obama because they aren’t racist like the Amis.

    Also there politics is very screwed up. The Greens have too much power, and the other parties suck. They are big on windmills, but they buy nuclear power from France. They also didn’t think about Easter European countries when the started Nordstream. They still see themselves as a world power, so they want to deal with Russia, China, and too some extent France. Other counties are where they vacation.

    BTW, they hated Trump, and don’t know anything about Hunter and his dad.

  5. Andy resigned. I guess even he couldn’t delude himself forever. He hoped he could weather the storm like Northam, but it was too much so he had to resign like Spitzer.

  6. The 14 days until Cuomo actually resigns is a way to ease him out of the news… to continue mentioning his disgrace occasionally but less frequently until it is old news, and then let him disappear. A lot of folks won’t be surprised when the media loses interest in him, since resigning high office is a punishment in itself.

    But thinking people know the game… something much uglier was coming, and he was finally convinced that the only way it wouldn’t come out is if the media could point to his bloodied body in the ditch and say “Well, I guess that’s the end of HIM, right? Right?”

  7. Andrew Cuomo resigns! I’m shocked. Thought he’d ride that horse did it dropped dead. Well maybe it did die.

  8. Does this mean he’ll have to return his Emmy?

    (Actually, he may deserve another one—he’s been putting on a simply fabulous act over these past several weeks…really raw drama, Sam Peckinpah would be in awe.)

    Speaking of awards, I think that the “Malthusian Society” (American Chapter) will have to present him with the “Brother Thomas Person of the Year” (since no one else comes close to actually applying—in real time—the principles they hold so dear). But if the notoriety is a bit too tough for them to handle, there’s always “Planned Parentshould” (Be Culled Division) to pick up the slack with enthusiasm and a well-earned “Malice Medallion” for Ruthlessness Above and Beyond the Call of Duty.

    And will his book get remaindered? (Even the signed copies?) I suppose he could always write another.

    And what’ll happen to his sweet kid brother?

    I wonder if the media will even cover this story, really. I mean REALLY cover it. No doubt they’ll be pushing the “Trump Insurrection” hysteria even harder in the days to come… “overcompensation” and all that…

  9. Let me clarify my comment: I believe the 14-day delay was pure Cuomo bloody-mindedness and last-ditch hope. The strategy of how to HANDLE the delay is I believe the media’s invention! A short delay might have worked, this is too long for the media to pull it off!

  10. TommyJay, my husband was in Beijing on business when we bombed the consulate in Serbia. His office was near the US Embassy, where angry crowds were gathering. The company backed a panel van up to the doors of the office, opened the van, threw him in it, covered him with a blanket, and drove him directly to the airport. Someone else went to his hotel to collect his luggage and bring it to him. A couple of hours later, the reports came out that the planes carrying the bombs had taken off from a field in Germany. The company went through the same routine, then, to get his German boss out of China.

  11. “But thinking people know the game… something much uglier was coming, ”

    Well, yes. The only thing is that something much uglier will be a new chunk of feculent stealth communist feces from within the NY party. Watch for it.

    Thanking you in advance.

  12. Expat: I know Konstanz somewhat as I spent some time in Meersburg on the Bodensee and made short visits to Konstanz. Wonderful place. I imagine it was a “Wie Gott in Frankreich” experience for you.

    I fully agree with your take on the political picture you present. I spent many years working with German and Austrian firms. It was a lonely job to present an alternate picture from the false caricature presented in the German MSM of the US. It was particularly dismaying to see up close how keen they were/are to do business with the butchers of Tehran ( and Bagdad and Damascus)

    I agree that the politics of Germany are now totally screwed. Back in the day we knew that the CDU/CSU stood for Western values and a bulwark against Soviet aggression. What is their guiding principle now?

    Looking forward to your (ir)regular reports on life in Germany.

  13. Kate,
    Quite a story. I think Mr. Pillsbury has more in his book about the specific China reaction actions after the bombing, though I don’t remember it well. At the time, I sort of accepted the accident explanation, though I also thought the truth of it was a coin flip. That may have been too generous.

    Here is an account of the embassy bombing.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_bombing_of_the_Chinese_embassy_in_Belgrade

    But what would have been the motive for an intentional bombing? The Serbs shot down a F-117 Nighthawk, which was an achievement. Did China help with that one? The embassy was bombed about 5 weeks after the F-117 was downed, so the timeline works.

  14. Oh, sorry, yes, it was the embassy, not a consulate. Chinese reaction on the day this happened was emotional and very negative. I can’t tell you how relieved I was to get my husband’s call from Tokyo, headed home and all in one piece. He said it was “uncomfortable” in the Beijing airport. He kept his American passport in his pocket out of sight except when officially required and kept his mouth shut so no one would realize his nationality. Although obviously not Chinese, his Slavic face and name do not immediately label him as “American.”

  15. @TommyJay:

    China had military experts inside the embassy working with the Serbs to collect radar scatter data on the F-117 Stealth Plane. Obviously nothing that flies is perfectly stealthy. The Serbs had worked out a way to track it under certain conditions and the Chinese were there to cooperate with them on technical stuff and gain access to data as quid pro quo. Serbs were running real time data into the PRC Embassy where it was being logged and doubtless the PLA guys sent to help were running it in real time through whatever secret sauce equipment they had brought to the party and conceivably giving targeting feedback to the Serbs.

    The JDAM went through the exact window of the embassy behind which the PLA tech guys were working. It was a message alright.

    Don’t ask for citations. Google around. You won’t find ‘respectable’ people on the record about this. Go find ‘respectable’ sources and citations for your last presidential election or January 6 :).

    Or try finding a citation for how many US Agents Jonathan Pollard got killed in the USSR. Or a citation for how much carbon was emitted by the Late Ungreat Sheldon Adelson when he returned said bloodstained Traitor to where he *really* belongs in his private jet 🙂

    Citations shmitations.

    Unrelated, but I was in Hong Kong during all of the Yugoslav Civil War and was friends with an American guy who was a successful middleman in the DRAM trade back then. He said he had Croats and Serbs in and out all the time buying up components… And it was widely known and reported in local press that buyers from all sides had set up purchasing companies for other more obviously military spare parts from Mainland and 3rd country dealers based in Hong Kong and Macau.

  16. expat & Xylourgos, thanks for comments on Germany. I visited Konstanz for just one day – hiked around town, out to Mainau and back.

  17. And what business did the USA have bombing Serbs on behalf of Muslims? About as much logic and sanity behind that as it does when it bombs Muslims on behalf of Jews.

    And yet most people here or out there in Conservative Land could read the passage from Heart of Darkness about the French Frigate firing broadsides mindlessly into some empty African Jungle and nod knowingly… and then go straight back to mainlining their favorite ‘Commentators’ doing the Republicuck R2P Muh Geostrategy Two-step.

    You don’t have to be a patriotic American or a China Shill or a Man from Mars to wonder if perhaps there might not be better things for the City on a Hill to be doing.

  18. Latest on Covid Delta outbreaks in PRC:

    https://asiatimes.com/2021/08/chinas-economy-wobbles-as-covid-starts-to-hit-production/

    “Economists are trying to take a wider measure of the outbreak’s likely economic impact. Nomura recently revised down its China GDP growth forecast for the third quarter from 6.4% to 5.1% and its outlook for the entire year from 8.9% to 8.2%.

    Lu Ting, Nomura’s chief China economist, told an investors’ conference last week that sweeping lockdowns and travel restrictions unseen since the first half of 2020, coupled with worse-than-expected deluges hitting China’s central heartland, may cloud growth prospects for the rest of the year.

    Goldman Sachs has also warned that GDP growth, already trending down from the first half’s high of 12.7% year-on-year, may slacken further amid reinstated anti-virus measures that will crimp travel and consumption.”

    Terrible numbers. Clearly a Failed State. We have a moral obligation to at the very least drop some ordnance on them! 🙂

    PRC GDP growth numbers are (to say the least) Rubbery. That is undisputed. Also undisputed that even Goldman Sachs quakes before the CCP and won’t argue too much with them over the point (Don’t you wish your government made Goldman Sachs afraid rather than vice-versa? :D)…

    But growth there was last year and has been obvious this year too. Economy has been bubbling away. Be interesting to see how much of a dent Delta puts in it now.

  19. I have a question for Michigan residents here. How are things looking as far as pandemic restrictions? I have it in mind to spend some time in Adrian, then a brief stop or two in Kzoo, then up north to Sault Ste. Marie, Houghton, maybe Marquette, a couple of other small places. I’ve noticed that Lenawee County is described by the state health dept. as having some substantial flare-up, presumably due to the ‘delta,’ but putting differences of opinion about the scientific merits of such descriptions, I’m interested in what the practical limitations on visiting might be. For instance, I’ve noticed that at least one hotel that would have been on my short list for booking has a stipulation that it will only accept reservations for essential travel, which rules me out.

    I figured things would go more smoothly up north, but maybe I have a mistaken impression.

  20. @Philip Sells:

    Hope you get some useful answers here.

    It’s nuts.. Even when there aren’t blanket restrictions on travel or activities, now nothing can be assumed in advance.

    You’re concerned about what ‘minor’ non-newsworthy restrictions and bureaucratic fiats might make your trip too unpleasant to be worth the effort. It’s not just what you don’t know that can hurt you today, it’s that tomorrow someone could add or remove a clause somewhere and mess up your whole trip.

    Certainty and Normalcy are underrated.

    I’ve considered traveling and factoring in the various quarantine and testing inconveniences… but it’s the uncertainty factor of changing rules and dictates keeps me at home.

  21. BHO loves America too; he also wants to fundamentally transform it. Stay in Hong Kong since you prefer the CCP, or is it the PRC?

  22. @Kate:

    Standard practice is for US Nationals to pretend to be Canadian. But I’m sure you know this. Was the case at least up until the Meng Wanzhou arrest anyway. Now even the poor inoffensive inconsequential Canadians are on the Panda’s Enemies List.

  23. @ Ray+Van+Dune, on your comment at https://www.thenewneo.com/2021/08/05/scientists-must-not-be-questioned-or-challenged-by-those-on-the-right/#comment-2568651 , on how
    “Their response to hearing a differing opinion is that they are being “attacked”.”
    Seeing as much hinges on who raised the political issues, I must ask, how often do they feel “attacked” after you raised the political issues, vs. after *they*raised the political issues?

    If this feeling emerges only after you raised the political issues, it’s somewhat understandable. Maybe they just weren’t in the mood for such talk.
    But, if this happens after *they* raised the political issues, that’s *brutal*!

  24. More goodness from Sultan Knish, the Kosher Samosa:

    Fun Times in Tunisia
    http://www.danielgreenfield.org/2021/08/arab-spring-2-dc-politicians-rush-to.html

    “It’s not just the rising prices and loss of hope that makes the Biden administration feel like a rerun of the Obama administration. In the birthplace of the Arab Spring, the same sorry drama is playing out after popular protests once again ousted the Ennahda Muslim Brotherhood plotters who keep trying to take over the country, while the usual suspects in D.C. are fuming.”

    I love this guy. I bet he has a very meta-ish wry grin on his face every time he types out ‘usual suspects’.

    The USA should be utterly indifferent re which band of rag heads rule in Tunisia. And the American People ought be a lot less indifferent to which assorted miscellany of miscreants rule in DC.

  25. “Latest on Covid Delta outbreaks in PRC”

    Tiny data points that indicate Delta is being disruptive.
    My BIL is no longer allowed to visit my FIL in hospital.
    And no license plate outside Beijing province allowed in the city except nearby metropolis TianJin.
    The TV propaganda says “don’t leave your house to shop if you have even one more grain of rice”. Voluntary shelter in place. Unless/until the larder is empty.

  26. Some Analogue High Def Video originally shot for Japanese Domestic Market featuring NYC in 1993:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fT4lDU-QLUY

    Nineveh and Tyre. (That’s a Kipling allusion, Kiddies… Recessional, FWIW. Swear I’m not thinking of anything else :P)

    I’d give up my iPhone for a time machine.

  27. I don’t know Mr. Goodman’s repertoire, so I kind of expected him to demonstrate some multi-talented Astaire moves … still, it was a good song.

  28. Well – I missed this earlier in the week, but my goodness, have these people no understanding of modern internet journalism?
    Anything you do can be found out, if someone is determined to look.

    https://redstate.com/scotthounsell/2021/08/06/exclusive-cdc-director-walenskys-husband-received-5-million-in-hhs-grants-and-thats-just-the-start-of-it-n421809

    RTWT and then go to the next installment.
    https://redstate.com/scotthounsell/2021/08/10/cdc-sends-lackey-to-question-redstates-factual-reporting-on-cdc-director-walensky-n423630?utm_source=piano&utm_medium=onsite&utm_campaign=719

  29. Kate @ 10:35am: “………..they’re finally making early treatment available for at-risk COVID patients. Not ivermectin, which is cheap, but at least it’s something. I could call my local hospital and get the infusion:”

    BRAVO! I hope other states will pick up on this. It really is the only way we’re going to get back to normal.

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