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Soviet Union sold titanium to US believing they needed it for pizza ovens

theaviationgeekclub.com

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Re: Soviet Union sold titanium to US believing they needed it for pizza ovens

#201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If there is one thing that was conclusively proven by the now almost 40 year old "War On Drugs", is that controlling their supply does nothing for their demand. The US is tearing itself from the inside because of the inevitable conclusions of late stage capitalism: there is an unsustainable wealth gap, and entrenched systemic discrimination perpetuated by cultish religiosity. Blaming China for this (or even Russia) i…

> If there is one thing that was conclusively proven by the now almost 40 year old "War On Drugs", is that controlling their supply does nothing for their demand. Quaaludes have been effectively nonexistent globally (with the sole exception of South Africa) since the start of the 1990s and entirely because of the "War On Drugs".

The entire class of drugs vanished along with barbiturates because benzodiazepines are easier to get and more effective.

I don’t see heroin going anywhere despite the war on drugs.

Re: Soviet Union sold titanium to US believing they needed it for pizza ovens

#202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

systemic discrimination perpetuated by cultish religiosity? can you expound on that?

So, other than the Westernmost parts of Eastern Europe (which we can start including, since the EU has kickstarted their economic development dramatically), the US is by far the most religious country of any in what we might consider "The developed West". But it hasn't experienced a lot of the same cultural changes that it's most significant allies have gone through. Why not? There's a number of other reasons: The St…

Yes, because communism and atheism has such a great track record. The Salem witch trials killed about 25 people. Mao, Stalin, Lenin, pol pot, etc etc killed 100’s of millions.

”When asked about such tragedies Russian novelist Alexander Solzhenitsyn explained, “Men have forgotten God, that’s why all this happened.” Another preeminent Russian novelist, Fyodor Dostoyevsky explained, “If God is not, everything is permitted.”

> there is a magical man in the sky who will reward them from being good

You might want to look up Jihad.

Communism is definitely a religion as the Catholic Church has claimed for more than a century. It's an atheistic religion. It's a religion created by atheists, celebrated by atheists and defended by atheists. It comes with its own prophets and prophecies, sacred items, soteriology, hierotopy, pseudo-spirituality, pseudo-morality, pilgrimages, temples, theophany, soteriology, cultic practices, sacred texts and exegetical commentary.

Re: Soviet Union sold titanium to US believing they needed it for pizza ovens

#203
post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anyone being unbiased who claim to know enough about PRC to point at the state being behind it doesn't use the wrong and derogatory term for the Communist Party of China ("CCP", it's CPC). That's like 60 minutes making a documentary about the Federal Investigation Bureau or the Party Republican.

That's like claiming it would be derogatory to label the URSS as USSR or the KPD the German Communist Party. Then again, I don't care if someone thinks that a reference to a communist party is negative, as long as the negativity is about the communism aspect (as opposed to the ethnicity or general culture of that country). Just like I don't care if the NSDAP would find it insulting if I call their party the Nazi part…

>I don't care if someone thinks that a reference to a communist party is negative

The communist part is not the point. Look at Wikipedia's talk page for a discussion.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Chinese_Communist_Party

Re: Soviet Union sold titanium to US believing they needed it for pizza ovens

#204
post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. Oxycontin much weaker than fentanyl 2. China is still actively doing it https://www.brookings.edu/testimonies/chinas-role-in-the-fen...

But who got all those people hooked on opioids to start with? Nobody wakes up one day and says hey, I’m going to try fentanyl.

> Nobody wakes up one day and says hey, I’m going to try fentanyl.

That's actually what is happening... people who are already addicted to other drugs are losing access to those drugs (or realizing that fenty is cheaper) and then switching to it.

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/homeless/fentanyl-...

"At first, she started using meth, then later added heroin. But about six months ago, she couldn’t find it, she said. Fentanyl was the only choice.

“I held out as long as I could,” Winter said."

Re: Soviet Union sold titanium to US believing they needed it for pizza ovens

#205
post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW, for a while (before the war in Ukraine), VSMPO-Avisma, the largest titanium extractor and exporter in Russia, was selling stuff like titanium gardening shovels, rakes etc on Amazon and eBay.

Ahh so maybe the expensive or difficult titanium work is the really high-end stuff like SR-71? I just recall from Skunk Works that they had a tough time working with it.

It's definitely harder to work, but I suspect that once they invest into the appropriate tooling (for military products where it has to be titanium), it's easy and relatively cheap to repurpose for other products.

Re: Soviet Union sold titanium to US believing they needed it for pizza ovens

#206
post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. Oxycontin much weaker than fentanyl 2. China is still actively doing it https://www.brookings.edu/testimonies/chinas-role-in-the-fen...

But who got all those people hooked on opioids to start with? Nobody wakes up one day and says hey, I’m going to try fentanyl.

You can use the same analogy for the Opium wars. It’s a moot point. It doesn’t change the fact that what the British Empire did and what CCP is doing now are both disgusting and wrong.

Re: Soviet Union sold titanium to US believing they needed it for pizza ovens

#207
post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's like claiming it would be derogatory to label the URSS as USSR or the KPD the German Communist Party. Then again, I don't care if someone thinks that a reference to a communist party is negative, as long as the negativity is about the communism aspect (as opposed to the ethnicity or general culture of that country). Just like I don't care if the NSDAP would find it insulting if I call their party the Nazi part…

>I don't care if someone thinks that a reference to a communist party is negative The communist part is not the point. Look at Wikipedia's talk page for a discussion. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Chinese_Communist_Party

I skimmed that page, and all I found was some group stating that placing the country name before the party name is somewhat racist. Which I suppose could be an artifact from when Lenin and Stalin were trying to incite world revolution through the Comintern, when the communist movement wanted to eradicate all borders and make the whole world communist.

Also in your link is a reference to the official CCP website, where they themselves (or so the talk page claims) state while they prefer CPC, CCP is also acceptable.

So it seems to me that this is a nothing-burger, where some activists are fighting on behalf of a group that doesn't really see the reference as a slur in the first place.

Based on this link, CCP was even the original abbreviation, which was changed to CPC as late as 1943 due to pressure from Comintern/Stalin:

https://chinamediaproject.org/2023/03/30/ccp-or-cpc-a-china-...

Re: Soviet Union sold titanium to US believing they needed it for pizza ovens

#208
post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But who got all those people hooked on opioids to start with? Nobody wakes up one day and says hey, I’m going to try fentanyl.

> Nobody wakes up one day and says hey, I’m going to try fentanyl. That's actually what is happening... people who are already addicted to other drugs are losing access to those drugs (or realizing that fenty is cheaper) and then switching to it. https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/homeless/fentanyl-... "At first, she started using meth, then later added heroin. But about six months ago, she couldn’t find it, s…

That’s exactly the point I’m making. First they get addicted to pharmaceuticals, then move to street drugs. Whoever thought the advertising campaign behind OxyContin being non-addictive deserves the death penalty.

Re: Soviet Union sold titanium to US believing they needed it for pizza ovens

#209
2023 Sanctions blocked exports from the Russian Federation for a wide range of products.

This is not about the CP71, but if we look at the simplest personal aircraft, the paramotor, then almost 100% of their titanium frames are produced by 2-3 companies from Russia. There are a huge number of assembly brands around the world, but they all use Russian titanium frames. Russian aircraft engines (RMZ500) account for 80% of sales in the two-seat paratrike segment.

In every passenger Boeing and Airbus you will find titanium and magnesium parts produced in the Russian Federation.

Re: Soviet Union sold titanium to US believing they needed it for pizza ovens

#210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The British committing navy for East India company is not remotely similar to PRC inaction to curtail organized crime operations in LATAM when they'd rather direct resources domestically or in ASEAN. The primary attack vector of Opium War was military force, i.e. an actual war. The primary victim throne and treasury not civil society via gunboat diplomacy. One is a state actively investing large diplomatic and milita…

Why blame Hong Kong protests on America, tho?

That was a general remark on western influence, i.e. western NGOs. On HK specifically, see the amount of prominent HK activists who shook hands with US politicians including pompeo, asked US to sanction HK politicians hoping US can exert pressure on domestic PRC affairs. HK also spy hub or Asian with biggest US embassy in region. That connection is now severed with NSL.
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