Posted on 04/22/2022 10:01:19 AM PDT by Kaslin
Since Russia invaded Ukraine and captured the world’s attention, Pew polling finds Americans have largely shifted their view of Russia from a competitor to an enemy in just two months. But we can’t allow the focus on Russia to become a myopic view of our foreign policy. Remember Iran? North Korea? And most importantly, China.
The same day of Russia’s invasion, the Department of Defense (DoD) released with little fanfare a report detailing a critical threat to American national security. The report warns the United States’ ability to defend itself is dependent on an even bigger threat than Russia: Communist China.
In a 74-page report with 64 recommendations, DOD detailed several areas in which the United States is unable to supply our military with what it needs, including battery production, microelectronics, and metal casting.
Batteries are essential in many defense products to power anything from armored vehicles to night vision goggles. The DoD states that 94 percent of lithium hydroxide, 76 percent of electrolyte, 70 percent of lithium carbonate, and 65 percent of anodes are produced in China. Most batteries are produced outside the United States, but even when they are made within our borders, producers rely on China for the components.
Things are predicted to get worse. The DoD notes that it is expecting reliance on batteries to “accelerate dramatically by 2030” and warned that this transition – which is driven in part by the military’s pledge to be carbon neutral – could “inadvertently grow” China’s dominance.
(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...
Our nation needs to tell China in no uncertain terms that if they invade their neighbors (to include Taiwan) the US will divest itself completely from China down to every plastic widget factory, no monetary flow, nothing - zip, nada. Put American companies on notice now that you will lose your factories.
What do you want to bet that they believed Trump would do it?
Biden? Not so much...... they have leverage over him.
Nations don’t fall. They are destroyed from within.
"oh, we're too small a part of the chip market to make any demands of a domestic foundry..."
Speaking of chip making...if Russia captures Mariupol and Odessa they will control over 75% of the world’s Industrial NEON production with China controlling almost all of the rest. Industrial NEON is essential for laser etching advanced microchips. Can’t speak for anybody else but having Russia and China controlling almost the entire supply of this strategic gas does not seem like it bodes well for us at least in the short term.
And President Trump tried to remove China’s grip on our supply chain.😖
As far as battery production goes, it’s in China because the EPA shut down the US mines and refining capacity in the US. “Rare Earth” metals are not rare. They are available in the continental United States in more than sufficient quantity. The problem is where. The mines are all in Lefty-oriented states and the EPA got harder and harder on them until they were no longer competitive. That isn’t hard since China started subsidizing their mines a long time ago. Also, the refining process involves numerous acid washes. Now there are probably lots of alternative processes, but why bother when the materials were so cheap from China? To counter this trend Trump husbanded a mine back from the dead. He left office right before it got its EPA go-ahead to begin operating. Haven’t heard another word since.
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