China is a smog-filled hellscape

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Mazian
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Re: China is a smog-filled hellscape

Postby Mazian » Fri Oct 05, 2018 3:55 pm

A claim, it should be noted, that both Apple and Amazon deny in substantial detail, not at all the "we're not talking about it" sort of response you might expect if they were tangled up in gag orders.

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Re: China is a smog-filled hellscape

Postby Mongrel » Sun Oct 07, 2018 1:58 pm

You may have seen in the news that the head of Interpol in China just "randomly disappeared" Friday.



my surprised face, etc.
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Re: China is a smog-filled hellscape

Postby Mongrel » Thu Nov 08, 2018 3:34 pm

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Re: China is a smog-filled hellscape

Postby Mongrel » Tue May 19, 2020 10:50 pm

Fairly important warning. You probably recognize the "CE" mark indicating that a product meets European health and safety requirements (it stands for Conformity [to] European [standards]).

Apparently there are Chinese manufacturers selling goods - including PPE - with fake CE marks on them, which is legally allowed (for now anyway) in China using a virtually identical marking known as "China Export":

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This isn't some tabloid hooting and hollering either*. The source is the CE's own website.

*(I mean, maybe they are, but I don't usually go looking for inferior sources to confirm a story...)
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Re: China is a smog-filled hellscape

Postby Mongrel » Wed Jan 06, 2021 7:11 pm

Meanwhile in China...

The CPC figured that with everyone on the planet good and distracted, now was a GREAT time to arrest every major pro-democracy speaker and legislator in Hong Kong!
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Friday
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Re: China is a smog-filled hellscape

Postby Friday » Wed Jan 06, 2021 7:17 pm

Coincidence. That kind of mass arrest takes planning and time. They weren't just all ready to go, on the balls of their feet, for weeks and weeks waiting for the United States media (and almost all other media) to point their cameras at the Senate.
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Re: China is a smog-filled hellscape

Postby Mongrel » Wed Jan 06, 2021 7:23 pm

True, but you can usually push the timing on these around a little if your planning is good - you need wiggle room for the unanticipated. Might have originally been slated for tomorrow, for example.

Regardless, it works out very tidily for China.
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Re: China is a smog-filled hellscape

Postby IGNORE ME » Wed Jan 06, 2021 8:08 pm

If there's one country in the world that knows when there's going to be a riot... well, it's probably Russia, but China's up there.

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Re: China is a smog-filled hellscape

Postby atog » Wed Jan 06, 2021 8:22 pm

Well, aside from the Kaiser Chiefs.
Placeholder for something witty that doesn't make me sound like an asshole

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Re: China is a smog-filled hellscape

Postby Mongrel » Tue Mar 15, 2022 5:37 pm



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Re: China is a smog-filled hellscape

Postby Mongrel » Tue Sep 20, 2022 3:57 pm

Ukraine's successes are helping Taiwanese officials push efforts to reform and update their military.

Taiwan arguably has access to a lot more sophisticated hardware to start off with, already being on NATO equipment and good training for such personnel, but over time they had been gradually decreasing their mandatory military service, which they're now able to increase again, as well as proceeding with similar decentralization measures.

So seeing Ukraine fight back and even win against a larger power has really been a concrete inspiration for them and offered a lot of direction and lessons they can learn from.
Mr. Shen said Ukraine’s recent military successes give Taiwan hope that a determined and united smaller military can fend off a bigger enemy. He noted that one ranking of military might lists Russia as No. 2 and Ukraine as No. 22. The Global Firepower 2022 Military Strength Ranking also ranked China at No. 3 and Taiwan at No. 21.

“If No. 22 can defeat No. 2, why can’t No. 21 defeat No. 3?”

I feel like they're also starting from a stronger position already over any ex-Soviet country. The Kuomintang was a military government for many years and they had many long-service veterans in power after Taiwan split off in '47. Obviously that's several generations in the past now, but as we've seen almost any military heritage is better than the Russian model.

Incidentally, I can't wait to see how far down Russia's ranking falls by next year. *shit-eating grin*
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Re: China is a smog-filled hellscape

Postby Mongrel » Thu Sep 22, 2022 2:16 pm

Chinese police establish stations overseas in ‘worrying’ crackdown on citizens abroad
In addition to the hotline, the reports said, the Fuzhou Public Security Bureau (PSB) has also established more than 50 police “service stations” across five continents, including at least three in the Greater Toronto Area, according to a list shared by Chinese media.

Yeah, hi, I'm sure you won't mind if we literally set up extrajudicial branches of our domestic thug operations in your country, without your knowledge or consent.
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Re: China is a smog-filled hellscape

Postby Mongrel » Sat Oct 15, 2022 1:46 pm

Thread, not too long:

Wired article on same: US Chip Sanctions ‘Kneecap’ China’s Tech Industry
The capacity of any Chinese company to keep pace with advances in chip manufacturing is limited by its lack of access to the extreme ultraviolet lithography machines needed to make chips with components smaller than those of the 7-nanometer generation. The sole manufacturer, ASML in the Netherlands, has blocked exports to China at the request of the US government.
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