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China plans to ban exports of rare earth magnet tech

japannews.yomiuri.co.jp

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Re: China plans to ban exports of rare earth magnet tech

#601
post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Russia is getting $52/barrel for oil. Other producers are getting $80-85/barrel.

Comparing oil prices like this doesn't exactly work - oil is less of a commodity than we like to think. $80-85 per barrel is the price for WTI or Brent, which is a grade of crude oil called "light sweet crude." As oil goes, this is the highest purity grade. Middle Eastern oil, in general, is not anywhere near that pure, and can go for as little as $20-30/barrel. I assume Russian oil is also not quite as light and swe…

This chart looks like it's mostly geopolitics. The Brent-Ural spread opened pretty significantly in Jan.

[0]https://www.neste.com/investors/market-data/crude-oil-prices

Re: China plans to ban exports of rare earth magnet tech

#602
post #498

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Iraq was a travesty, and I have no idea what went on with Libya, or what is going on with Syria, for example. Beautifully spoken. Yet you still speak of peaceful, free and rules-based order.

I believe it would be worse under the CCP. Power corrupts inevitably, and our best option usually comes down to choosing who/what is the lesser evil, the more constrained in their use of that power. As many mistakes as the US has made, give the CCP the power and reach of the US’s military and little or no opposition or constraints and we’ll be begging for the bad old days of US hegemony.

This is stockholm syndrome. You have a proven evil (USA) and a hypothetical evil (China, based on USA propaganda and not your personal experience), yet you believe the hypothetical would be worse. By the way, it's CPC, not CCP.

Re: China plans to ban exports of rare earth magnet tech

#603
post #582

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The reason why the US doesn't like China is because the US dislikes the idea of being the #2 economy and losing control. This comment gets thrown around a lot but oversimplifies things. First, in the 90s, 2000s, and some of the 2010s ‘the US’ was China’s biggest cheerleader, investor, and supporter. Most US elites knew China would eventually become a bigger economy due to their 4x larger population, and were ok wit…

> rules-based order What rules are those?

The USA rules, obviously. And they can change them unilaterally whenever they like. Lawmaker cop and judge at the same time.

Re: China plans to ban exports of rare earth magnet tech

#604

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe it would be worse under the CCP. Power corrupts inevitably, and our best option usually comes down to choosing who/what is the lesser evil, the more constrained in their use of that power. As many mistakes as the US has made, give the CCP the power and reach of the US’s military and little or no opposition or constraints and we’ll be begging for the bad old days of US hegemony.

This is stockholm syndrome. You have a proven evil (USA) and a hypothetical evil (China, based on USA propaganda and not your personal experience), yet you believe the hypothetical would be worse. By the way, it's CPC, not CCP.

CCP isn’t a hypothetical evil, it’s proven too. The only thing up for interpretation is which is the lesser of two evils.

Re: China plans to ban exports of rare earth magnet tech

#605

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Modern definition of genocide include intentional destruction of culture, which is exactly what the Chinese are doing.

If you take a word that originally meant the mass murder of an entire ethnic group, and then use it to refer to destruction of culture, you're just trying to confuse people. The whole point of calling it the "Uyghur genocide" is to fool people into thinking that China is carrying out mass murder - which is isn't. The retreat to, "I'm talking about cultural genocide" is a bait-and-switch, used once the original accusa…

OK, lets use the phrase "severe opression" instead of genocide.

Re: China plans to ban exports of rare earth magnet tech

#606

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Not beholden", like say, unilaterally waging war on another country without congressional approval?

Unfortunately congress did vote. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authorization_for_Use_of_Milit... They didn't declare war, which is unfortunate but congress did approve.

This came after the fact, which is not supposed to be how it works.

Re: China plans to ban exports of rare earth magnet tech

#607

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you take a word that originally meant the mass murder of an entire ethnic group, and then use it to refer to destruction of culture, you're just trying to confuse people. The whole point of calling it the "Uyghur genocide" is to fool people into thinking that China is carrying out mass murder - which is isn't. The retreat to, "I'm talking about cultural genocide" is a bait-and-switch, used once the original accusa…

OK, lets use the phrase "severe opression" instead of genocide.

There's a massive difference between those two phrases.

On the one hand, you have political repression of the sort that is common throughout the world, including in democracies like India (see Kashmir). On the other hand, you have the mass murder of millions of people. Somewhere in between, you have the sorts of bloody wars the US has engaged in throughout the Middle East, in which hundreds of thousands of people die.

Re: China plans to ban exports of rare earth magnet tech

#608

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the US deliberately takes steps intended to back China into a corner, with the only options being humiliation or war, then yes, it will be the US' fault. The US has to come to grips with the fact that its power is limited, and that it must seek accommodation with other powers. If it doesn't come to this realization, we're all in for a very bad time.

Hitting someone else to avoid humiliation is behaviour that belongs on the elementary school playground. Making "accommodations" over territory is what started World War 2.

> Hitting someone else to avoid humiliation is behaviour that belongs on the elementary school playground.

John F. Kennedy didn't think so: "Above all, while defending our own vital interests, nuclear powers must avert those confrontations which bring an adversary to a choice of either a humiliating retreat or a nuclear war. To adopt that kind of course in the nuclear age would be evidence only of the bankruptcy of our policy--or of a collective death-wish for the world."[0]

> Making "accommodations" over territory is what started World War 2.

First, not everything is Munich 1938, and it is very dangerous to think that it is, because it prevents rational diplomacy. It's the sort of thinking that was used to justify the American military intervention in Vietnam. It's the sort of thinking that might cause a war over Taiwan.

Second, Taiwan was legally a part of China, and it has never officially ceased to be so. The PRC is recognized as the legitimate government of China. The large majority of people in Taiwan no longer want to be part of China, but people on the mainland believe very strongly in the territorial integrity of China and are not willing to see a part of China permanently, officially severed from the country. This is an extremely delicate issue, and simply telling the Chinese to go stuff it would be very ill-advised.

0. Kennedy's "Peace Speech": https://www.jfklibrary.org/archives/other-resources/john-f-k....

Re: China plans to ban exports of rare earth magnet tech

#609
post #356

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Losing power in an authoritarian government could mean you are arrested for “corruption” and sentenced to death. The US is nearly there.

I would love to hear which US politicians you think narrowly evaded a death sentence simply from losing an election.

We just had one indicted for "corruption". Half of the predicate is true, hence "nearly there".

Re: China plans to ban exports of rare earth magnet tech

#610

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to whose international law? The distinction is at the heart of the issue depending which country you ask.

There is no legal distinction between the PRC and China. The PRC is China on the international stage. As far as I know, no country makes a distinction between China and the state that runs it. There is a handful of countries in the world that consider the ROC (i.e., Taiwan) to be the true government of China - countries such as the Vatican City and the Marshall Islands. As I understand it, the Vatican still recognize…

There are a handful of countries which do still recognize the ROC as the legal government of China. It has gotten smaller as China has bought many out over the last few decade. So, yes, there is a legal distinction depending on who you ask.
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