China had no way of conquering Taiwan back 1948. It is true
that they have been at odds, ever since Chiang Kai-shek
led the old government off the mainland.
It’s only in the last 10 to 20 years that there became the
possibility down the road of a Chinese Mainland remedy to
this situation, by force.
I don’t think I’d term that a resounding demonstration of a
will to survive. I would agree that some hard liners are
probably still very animate at retaining their sovereignty.
The others, maybe yes, maybe no.
Certain people will always be home-sick for the old
country. They let the romanticism take hold, perhaps some
family considerations too, and they loose any contact with
what reunification would truly mean.
What the percentage break-downs on this are, I have no idea.
Yes, the microchip situation is dire. This day was coming
and we allowed it to get to this point. We have operated
like a third world nation for the last 30 years. If it
wasn’t for our legacy from the 20th Century, we would be
an even more also-ran nation than we are now.
Take a look at old photo of one of China’s larger cities
from the 1980s. Then get a photo of that same city from
today.
Then take a look at our major cities from the 1980s, and
another from today.
Guess which nation will show a broken down decay of a
society.
Along with manufacturing went research and development.
Along with manufacturing followed capital. We can’t keep
our schools, highways, city streets, and other government
programs financed. Our business environment isn’t as rosy
as our leaders would have us believe.
We changed the way we gauge inflation. We gamed it, so that
the things we actually need to survive aren’t in there.
This allowed our government to make it seem like things were
going great.
I submit the GDP has been gamed in the same manner. I don’t
think our GDP figures are worth a darn.
They try to make us think that we still have massive
manufacturing. We don’t. Much of what we “manufacture”
here has actually been 90% done overseas. We get the parts
here and put them together.
I bought a Mercury Mariner in 2006. I bought it because
it was manufactured in the USA. In truth all the
components were put together in China and Mexico. The
different combined components were then delivered to the
plant in Kansas City, where the car’s construction was
finalized.
I’m sure our government considered the value of the car
to have been derived from the labor of U. S. Citizens.
What a joke. That’s how it goes clear across the
spectrum.
We have made no headway whatsoever toward moving away
from China. Even in the lead up to a war-time footing,
we just can’t pull the trigger to leave China behind.
In essence, the battles have already been won.
We didn’t win.
Well, you may be right. But it would be better if we never find out because Putin goes crying back to Mother Russia with a scraped knee and a black eye and a bloody nose. And Mother Russia graciously poisons him and makes it look like a heart attack. They’ll have a national Putin day with parades in his honor, annex Mariupol and Crimea, and go in for no further adventurism in the West. And China will take the hint, perhaps. Hard to say, but that’s the best chance of it. Unfortunately, the war in Ukraine keeps on going and going and going, and neither Putin nor China are learning anything from it, except that the Biden Administration is all bark and big spending.