TSMC looks to double down on U.S. chip factories as talks in Europe falter

Similarly, when the strong central government in Mycenaean Greece collapsed in the Bronze Age Collapse, Greece fractured into "regions controlled by warlords." Then one of those warlords, Alexandros, conquered Persia, most of the Mediterranean, Turkey, much what is now Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, and part of India. Then he died, and his empire fractured into regions controlled by warlords. Then the Roman Republic conquered most of the same region (not coincidentally becoming a Greek-speaking empire in the process), plus part of Britain and most of Western Europe, and fractured into regions controlled by warlords. Then the Holy Roman Empire arose and reunified a lot of those regions, at least in name (arguably, much like the later Zhou) and then fractured into regions controlled by warlords. Then Napoleon arose and reunified a lot of those regions, including parts of Russia that Rome and the Holy Roman Empire had never reached, but that didn't last long, and the warlords retook control from Napoleon pretty quickly. Even the Bourbons got restored! Then Hitler arose and reunified a lot of those regions, but his "country" fractured into regions controlled by warlords even more quickly. Then the European Union arose and reunified a lot of those same regions again by winning the loyalty of local warlords like Charles de Gaulle, Paul-Henri Spaak, and Joseph Luns. Or, alternatively, NATO did. Or the UN.

And you can tell a similar story about Russia.

You could reasonably object that NATO, the EU, the UN, and the Holy Roman Empire aren't or weren't "strong central governments" as we know them today. Well, they weren't Westphalian states, it's true. But neither were any of the reigns of Chinese emperors we're talking about here. And, although if you go to overseas Chinese school you might be taught a simple linear succession of dynasties, the truth in China is much more complicated, just as the truth about western Europe is much more complicated than my linear version above.

What does that have to do with what Russia would do if the nukes started flying? Does the collapse of the Kievan Rus' in the face of the Golden Horde mean that Russia's command structure would collapse in the 20 minutes needed to launch a counterattack? The Scythian king Ateas, from what is now Russia, fought in his dotage and fell in battle with Philip of Macedon in 00339 BCE, and his empire collapsed. Should we thus infer that his successor Vladimir Putin will remain in power too long and make Russia weak, easy pickings for a new conqueror?

Such inferences are obviously ridiculous.

The astronomical sum on the cheque to the TSMC, means they can finally stomp Samsung — their only competitor in the leading node.

US will be getting their Xilinx FPGAs for F35, but be left with no competition for the leading edge semi manufacturing, which is way worse long term.

People grew forgetful of the time when mainstream CPUs sold at >$1000

The phone numbers on that page is a hotline for general questions. It is absolutely not the same thing as the point mrtksn's Murdoch quote mentioned.

A media magnate like Murdoch has the phone number to the White House central switchboard and can get the President on the phone. Maybe not immediately, but probably within an hour. He might even have the President's personal cell phone number.[1] In turn, the President can either do what Murdoch requests, or transfer him to someone who can.

What is the EU equivalent to this sort of access? Murdoch can probably get Ursula von der Leyen on the phone more easily than he can Biden. But is she the right person for what Murdoch needs? Even if she is, her position certainly does not have the breadth of authority, or depth of command structures, that a US president can call upon. If Murdoch learns from a reliable source that Russia is going to full-on invade western Ukraine tomorrow, would calling von der Leyen to warn her be of any particular help for Ukraine, or for Europe? No; calling Biden, Merkel, Macron, and Johnson would be more effective.[2] That's the sort of thing Murdoch meant.

[1] Trump is well known for giving his cell phone number out and personally responding to calls, both before and after his election

[2] In this scenario, whether the UK is a EU member or not does not matter

This is a meme that is meant to heighten emotions in politics. It's small but intentionally destructive and each repetition of one of these little demonizations further prevents cool-headed nuanced discourse.

It's death by a thousand cuts for our society.