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Global Spring?


Immaculate Vibes

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22 hours ago, UT_OB1 said:

Yeah, want to know if my friend should feel dirty or not. I had no idea what/who JoJo is. I’m still not sure of the age in that picture taken in 2006, but a quick google search indicates no shame should be felt looking at current pictures

Might want to check those stats...to avoid feeling dirty. Especially with Jojo, per the Chicago Tribune.  

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41 minutes ago, Parliament said:

We'll see if Russia and China can help keep them fed, but if they pivot to only buying weapons from Russia, yeah, well, we are seeing how well they are doing on the battlefield.  I'm sure the Saudis are paying close attention to that.

Wonder if MBS could get China to kick in for Neom.

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13 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

We'll see if Russia and China can help keep them fed, but if they pivot to only buying weapons from Russia, yeah, well, we are seeing how well they are doing on the battlefield.  I'm sure the Saudis are paying close attention to that.

Wonder if MBS could get China to kick in for Neom.

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On 4/23/2022 at 7:25 PM, Schulz2.0 said:

The Chinese COVID lock downs are really impacting exports.

Could get worse if they are flipping out in Beijing.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/24/china/beijing-covid-outbreak-lockdown-fears-intl-hnk/index.html

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Beijing is racing to track a Covid-19 outbreak that may have been spreading in the capital for a week, city authorities said on Saturday, raising the prospect more stringent restrictions could soon be implemented in line with other Chinese cities. 

Beijing officials said at a press briefing Saturday that they were tracking cases across multiple districts and involving students, tour groups, and interior decoration workers. The capital reported 22 new local cases on Saturday, national health authorities said Sunday morning. 

“The city has recently seen several outbreaks involving multiple transmission chains, and the risk of continued and undetected transmission is high. The situation is urgent and grim,” municipal official Tian Wei told reporters Saturday. “The whole city must act immediately.”

"22 new local cases" = 22,000 new local cases (I don't really know).

This is a helluva time for China to be locking shit down all over the place, given the war in Ukraine.

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Also, the palm oil thing is a huge deal.  It's not just a food product.  It's a significant ingredient in all kinds of stuff - cosmetics, soaps, detergents, and even biodiesel.

Edited by WBT
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46 minutes ago, WBT said:

It's not but I'm shocked they haven't stolen a good one yet.  It works for them in every other industry.

No shit. Of all times for them to try and develop their own shit. wtf? Just hack Moderna and make a working knock off.

 

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This is reminiscent of March 2020 here. Limit down day.  The question is how long does Xi keep this up. 
 

There’s a lot of chatter about effects of lockdowns in China. Hard to verify though. 
 

Xi up for third term this year. I was under the impression that he had so consolidated power that it was fait accompli. I’ve been trying to catch up on China background recently. I’m interested to hear other takes on China. A change in power there would be huge obviously, but I’m not sure how much it would change US-China relations. 
 

One thing to look for would be if China gets destabilized by food shortages or inflation, then I think the odds of aggression towards Taiwan go up significantly. Could be used as a way to distract and rally support for government in place. 

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1 hour ago, Immaculate Vibes said:

One thing to look for would be if China gets destabilized by food shortages or inflation, then I think the odds of aggression towards Taiwan go up significantly. Could be used as a way to distract and rally support for government in place. 

If there's one thing I've learned about this timeline, it's that it only gets worse.  Thus, a Chinese attack on Taiwan seems obvious.  Sure, why the fuck not.

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1 hour ago, Johnny Sack said:

Any chance China would take shipments of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines?  Could be a win win.

I don't see that happening.  Xi has bet huge on domestic propaganda on China's covid response being proof of their superiority to the west.

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4 hours ago, Immaculate Vibes said:

This is reminiscent of March 2020 here. Limit down day.  The question is how long does Xi keep this up. 
 

There’s a lot of chatter about effects of lockdowns in China. Hard to verify though. 
 

Xi up for third term this year. I was under the impression that he had so consolidated power that it was fait accompli. I’ve been trying to catch up on China background recently. I’m interested to hear other takes on China. A change in power there would be huge obviously, but I’m not sure how much it would change US-China relations. 
 

One thing to look for would be if China gets destabilized by food shortages or inflation, then I think the odds of aggression towards Taiwan go up significantly. Could be used as a way to distract and rally support for government in place. 

The CCP congress is supposed to meet sometime in the fall. So he will likely have to keep this up until they get passed their national congress meeting. Term limits were removed so that he could continue to rule but that doesn't guarantee that the CCP would continue to support him. They could always replace him in the fall if things go very poorly with Omnicron and the economy.

It doesn't look like China is willing to change their Covid strategy not that they really can at this point. Their options are letting it burn through the population which would be a complete disaster for them and the global economy or admit they messed up and seek help from the West and import vaccines while moving away from their zero Covid policy. Or just slow roll the spread with lockdowns and wait until they develop better vaccines. I am guessing they will continue to use lockdowns and limit the outbreaks until they develop their improved vaccine.

 

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https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/25/investing/china-capital-outflows-covid-ukraine-war-intl-mic-hnk/index.html

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Investors are ditching China on an unprecedented scale as a cocktail of political and business risks, and rising interest rates elsewhere, make the world’s second biggest economy a less attractive place to keep their money.

China witnessed $17.5 billion worth of portfolio outflows last month, an all-time high, according to most recent data from the Institute of International Finance (IIF). The US-based trade association called this capital flight by overseas investors “unprecedented,” especially as there were no similar outflows from other emerging markets during this period. The outflows included $11.2 billion in bonds, while the rest were equities.

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Data from the Chinese government also showed a record bond-market retreat by foreign investors in recent months. Overseas investors offloaded a net 35 billion yuan ($5.5 billion) of Chinese government bonds in February, thelargest monthly reduction on record, according to China Central Depository and Clearing. The sell-off accelerated in March, hitting a new high of 52 billion yuan ($8.1 billion).

“China’s support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine was clearly the catalyst for capital to leave China,” said George Magnus, an associate at the China Centre at Oxford University and former chief economist for UBS.

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China and Russia proclaimed in February that their friendship had “no limits.” That was before Russia invaded Ukraine. Now, with Russia’s economy being slammed with sanctions from all over the world, Beijing has not rushed to help out its northern neighbor, fearing that it too could get caught up in sanctions. But it has also refused to condemn Russia’s attack on Ukraine, seeking to portray itself as a neutral actor and blaming the situation on the United States.

 

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20 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

Seems like Zero Covid policy is hurting as much or more than its Russia stance. 
 

Like I said on the inflation thread I’m torn on what’s going to happen in China. A lot of mixed signals, but our more capitalist system should outperform their central planning, all things being equal. 

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3 hours ago, Immaculate Vibes said:

Like I said on the inflation thread I’m torn on what’s going to happen in China. A lot of mixed signals, but our more capitalist system should outperform their central planning, all things being equal. 

And you might find this really interesting - a look at China's influence on other country (albeit only 36 countries right now).

 

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Lovely.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-61235528

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The war in Ukraine is set to cause the "largest commodity shock" since the 1970s, the World Bank has warned.  In a new forecast, it said disruption caused by the conflict would contribute to huge price rises for goods ranging from natural gas to wheat and cotton.

The increase in prices "is starting to have very large economic and humanitarian effects", Peter Nagle, a co-author of the report, told the BBC.

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The biggest rise will be in the price of natural gas in Europe, which is set to more than double in cost. Prices are forecast to fall next year and in 2024, but even then will remain 15% higher than they were last year.

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The World Bank said this means that from the lows of April 2020 until the highs of March this year we have seen "the largest 23-month increase in energy prices since the 1973 oil price hike", when tensions in the Middle Eastsent prices soaring.

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The World Bank commodity outlook also warned many foods are set to see steep rises in their costs. The UN food prices index already shows they are at their highest since records began 60 years ago.

Wheat is forecast to increase 42.7% and reach new record highs in dollar terms. Other notable increases will be 33.3% for barley, 20% for soybeans and 29.8% for oils and 41.8% for chicken. These increases reflect the fact that exports from Ukraine and Russia have fallen drastically.

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Before the war the two countries accounted for 28.9% of global wheat exports according to JP Morgan, and 60% of global sunflower supplies - a key ingredient in many processed foods - according to S&P Global.

So Russia and Ukraine accounted for 19% of wheat and 60% of sunflowers globally.  They could have really fucked with the prices and made a ton of money if Putin didn't have to go and fuck everything up.

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On 4/24/2022 at 11:42 PM, F250 said:

Just hack threaten the remaining in-country family of a Chinese-national employee of Moderna, have him steal the IP, and make a working knock off.

 

fif Chinese 'innovation'

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Tossing this in here, since it's outside of Ukraine (even though it's tied to it)

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20220427_10/

Quote

 

A senior Russian official has said that an exercise between Japan Self-Defense Forces and the US military near the Russian border is a threat to Russian security.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov spoke in an interview with Russia's state-run RIA news agency on Tuesday.

The remark appears to refer to the joint drill held by Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force and the US Navy in the Sea of Japan earlier this month. A US strike group led by the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln took part in the exercise.

 

Quote

 

Morgulov reportedly said Russia is warning via diplomatic channels that Japan will have to brace for Russian countermeasures should it conduct such drills more frequently.

Russia has designated Japan as an "unfriendly" state since it joined other Western countries in imposing sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. Russia has also unilaterally declared that it is suspending bilateral peace treaty talks with Japan.

 

 

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25 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

A senior Russian official has said that an exercise between Japan Self-Defense Forces and the US military near the Russian border is a threat to Russian security.

U.S. and Japan's response.

Community GIF

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On 4/24/2022 at 9:11 PM, Parliament said:

Seems their homegrown vaccine isn't very good at all.

FDA not impressed with Chinese drug industry

Quote

The U.S. Food & Drug Administration declined to approve two China-tested cancer treatments on Monday, raising concerns over the future of drugs tested in single-country trials.

The decisions could add pressure on Chinese stocks, especially biotech companies, at a time shares of several U.S.-listed Chinese companies have been falling on the potential risk of being de-listed.

 

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