Earlier quoted context omitted.
That’s what all government is: a racket.
Life before nationstates was famously prosperous, safe, and enriching.
Apple CEO Tim Cook 'secretly' signed $275B deal with China in 2016
681–690 of 755 posts
Re: Apple CEO Tim Cook 'secretly' signed $275B deal with China in 2016
#682Earlier quoted context omitted.
One thing about claims (say display Crimea as part of Russia within Russia and as Ukraine elsewhere), but distorting SIZES of the places on maps according to someone's political preference is well... plain out ridiculous, laughable. It displays how messed up China is more than anything else. It's seriously hard to expect the place that does things like that, as a next superpower. You can't build a superpower on silly…
"In the end, the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it. It was inevitable that they should make that claim sooner or later: the logic of their position demanded it. Not merely the validity of experience, but the very existence of external reality, was tacitly denied by their philosophy. The heresy of heresies was common sense. And what was terrifying was not that they would…
All that thread was screaming for that quote.
Thank you forever for posting it!
Re: Apple CEO Tim Cook 'secretly' signed $275B deal with China in 2016
#683Earlier quoted context omitted.
> You can't build a superpower on silly, 4-year-old level lies like that one. You absolutely can and must. That is, in fact, one of the prerogatives of a superpower.
What is even the purpose of showing these tiny islands in a larger size? It's not like they are the backbone of China's economy or that they prove that the party still has the mandate of heaven.
To oversize the problem related to those islands. And make the people agree upon a common ennemy.
[USA did a similar oversizing trick with WMD and the belief that Irak was the 4th biggest army in the world]
[calm down, USA patriots, all the countries do use the same tricks.]
Re: Apple CEO Tim Cook 'secretly' signed $275B deal with China in 2016
#684Earlier quoted context omitted.
"except for Trump, but he's not representative of the class "US leaders"" He was the last elected US president and was almost elected a 2. time. So like it or not, but to the world, he is a very strong current representative of a US leader. And yes, a very nationalistic one at that. Who can be back to power very soon, or someone like him.
>> except for Trump, but he's not representative of the class "US leaders" > He was the last elected US president and was almost elected a 2. time. 1) "US leaders" encompasses more than the presidency, and 2) at this point Trump is an n=1 aberration and no one can say if any patterns have changed. The overall US leadership class has internalized the dogma of free trade, to the point of openly and uncritically accepti…
"The overall US leadership class has internalized the dogma of free trade, to the point of openly and uncritically accepting the national-level negatives "
I see, and this is why the US is enforcing so many global trade embargos?
And as for the collateral of them, here in eastern germany the economy suffered a lot by the embargos against russia - as did many other branches in europe. I doubt the US economy was hit by it in any significant way by comparison.
Or that the US was (and is) using massive pressure, so that germany abandones north stream (a pipeline to get russian gas directly) and rather buys cheap US fracking gas?
So sorry, but I can't really take the "free global trade" rhetoric much serious. The US is pro free trade for sure, but only as long as US interests are not hurt too much.
And all of this happens with or without Trump.
Re: Apple CEO Tim Cook 'secretly' signed $275B deal with China in 2016
#685Earlier quoted context omitted.
A diplomatic boycott at the Olympics during a pandemic and sanction of a dozen or so people are meaningless virtue signals. The other actions align with American geopolitical interests. What is suggested upthread is that Apple ought to sacrifice interests in order to fight China.
Have you noticed just how sensitive the CCP leadership is about its image? Every perceived slight is a black eye to them.
That is just their own brand of virtue signaling. I doubt they actually care. China doesn't give up anything they don't particularly care about in the first place. They'll call for a boycott of Nike, which conveniently helps domestic companies. Manufacturers are still encouraged to offer their services to Nike though because they wouldn't want to their citizens to lose their jobs.
Re: Apple CEO Tim Cook 'secretly' signed $275B deal with China in 2016
#686If it's on HN or Twitter or FB then it NOT a secret
Re: Apple CEO Tim Cook 'secretly' signed $275B deal with China in 2016
#687Earlier quoted context omitted.
> criminal organization - which is separate from, and unauthorized by, the established state When the government of an established state violates human rights and international law (like the Geneva Convention), I don't think it's incorrect to call that government a criminal organization.
So the US is a criminal organization.
On what basis?
Re: Apple CEO Tim Cook 'secretly' signed $275B deal with China in 2016
#688Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think you're grasping the power issue here. China could give a s*t what American laws are. They are pressuring Apple to take some actions, if Apple doesn't want to take those actions, for whatever reason including 'American law forbids them' - then they're out of the market. Those are the terms presented to them, and the CCP is not bluffing. As far as 'censoring people outside China' that is actually a line t…
That's fine. China SHOULD NOT have the option to tell American companies that they need to not have free speech in the rest of the world because China doesn't have free speech. If that starts happening - American companies need to be FORCED to exit the Chinese market and keep free speech. Otherwise, it's a simple P&L calculation - and China will win. Apple is not going to lose 20% of their global sales because they b…
"China SHOULD NOT have the option to tell American companies that they need to not have free speech in the rest of the world because China doesn't have free speech."
So again, that 'feels right' - but this is not a 'moral' issue, it's a 'power' issue.
That it's 'unreasonable' that China should be able to censor outside of it's borders is kind of besides the point.
What matters is the materiality of their power.
In China, they can basically dictate terms and that's it.
China could feasibly threaten to block Apple in China unless some 'foreign censorship' is done on their behalf, the reason US companies should not concede, is because they don't have to.
For a couple of small things, they might get away with it but on the whole, it's something Apple can push back on ... because they can, not because they have some kind of moral high ground.
The social/moral posturing will be used as part of negotiation, but it's just superficial dressing on the underlying power.
US, Can, Aus, Europe need to get on the same page with respect to China.
Re: Apple CEO Tim Cook 'secretly' signed $275B deal with China in 2016
#689Earlier quoted context omitted.
In a single party system, one entity as large as CCP can never be "coherent": you'll always have people pulling in different directions.
Agree ... there are always factions etc and all these factions may manifest power within china, but external to China, CCP at projects a coherent facade unlike other democracies.
China is not a democracy
Re: Apple CEO Tim Cook 'secretly' signed $275B deal with China in 2016
#690Earlier quoted context omitted.
>> except for Trump, but he's not representative of the class "US leaders" > He was the last elected US president and was almost elected a 2. time. 1) "US leaders" encompasses more than the presidency, and 2) at this point Trump is an n=1 aberration and no one can say if any patterns have changed. The overall US leadership class has internalized the dogma of free trade, to the point of openly and uncritically accepti…
"The overall US leadership class has internalized the dogma of free trade, to the point of openly and uncritically accepting the national-level negatives " I see, and this is why the US is enforcing so many global trade embargos? And as for the collateral of them, here in eastern germany the economy suffered a lot by the embargos against russia - as did many other branches in europe. I doubt the US economy was hit by…
> I see, and this is why the US is enforcing so many global trade embargos?
You're not getting it. Embargos are neither here nor there, what matters is how they treat the domestic economy. They've let important bits whither, get outsourced, or slip out of their control through foreign acquisitions (which are default-allow), all often with great negative effects for the actual citizens they represent. That shows you where their commitments are.