Encore of Revival: America, April 1, 2019

The message from the EU is clear: “Join us so if you leave we can make you suffer for it.” Now, Italy cozies up to China?

Boeing tried to mount too big an engine on too small a plane because the engine used less fuel. This changed the plane’s aerodynamic personality; software was their solution. But, with software come bugs. So, Boeing had a warning light option if the software got too buggy. Ethiopian and Lion Air chose not to spend the $80k extra for the warning light. That cost Boeing about $40B in stock value. Now, we see that the FAA had turned a half-blind eye.

But, many other warnings have been ignored. America is polarizing. The only things deeper than the deep pockets of the US Treasury are the Left’s demands for spending. Senate Democrats silently watched the “Green New Deal” go down in flames. Cities may follow. When the going gets tough, the Right gets working while the Left gets burning hot mad.

Immigration is broken, not just in America, but everywhere. We need a proper on-ramp for good foreigners to enter any country. But, vitriol doesn’t make reforms. There is a difference between vitriol and a “tantrump”. Trump has achieved far more in two years than Obama did in eight. Still the Left stays vitriolic. That’s their only strategy, it seems.

The Left doesn’t want the Right to survive. The Right wants everyone to have the room to work and thrive. Neither will back down.

Peggy Noonan wrote in the Wall Street Journal:

It’s not enough that contraceptives be covered in the government-mandated plan; the nuns must conform. It’s not enough you be sensitive to the effect of your words and language; you must be punished for saying or thinking the wrong thing. It’s not enough that gay marriage is legal; you must be forced to bake the cake. It won’t do that attention be paid to scientific arguments on the environment; America must upend itself with green new deals or be judged not to care about children.

Yes, America is polarizing more than ever before. Who wins? We’ll see.

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Cadence of Conflict: Asia, July 13, 2015

Cadence of Conflict: Asia, July 13, 2015

With China’s economy failing, the Chinese KMT-Nationalist party living in exile at Taiwan may have made a mistake in trying to merge the fates of the New Taiwan Dollar with the Chinese Yuan. Election time in Taiwan could mean a political “pay day”. China is in financial crisis.

Weapon sales from the US to Taiwan have stalled during the tenure of Obama and Ma, Taiwan’s president. Both elections are in 2016 and analysts are wondering why the US won’t deliver on its sales to Taiwan. The obvious answer seems to evade experts and pundits. Even with America’s failed negotiations with China, the Pentagon doesn’t seem stupid enough to sell weapons to a nation run by leaders who don’t know how to explain their own foreign policy. The Pentagon delivery service will deliver once Taiwan clearly announces which country should appear on the shipping label.

In the meanwhile, China’s bad economy seems more scary than Greece’s.  · · · →

Prelude to Conflict: Asia, February 2

Prelude to Conflict: Asia, February 2

Hong Kong is back at it, this time marching on local elections. Japan is outraged over Muslims beheading one of their own, Asia is watching. Taiwan’s President is ever less popular and now with more proof than ever. Little news happened this week, but much analysis and beautiful night pictures of Hong Kong and Taiwan are going viral. The media would have us think that life in Taiwan sure is great. Is war near? Taiwan will be a major question, arguably the linchpin because of both reputation and regional strategy.

When Shang Kai-Sheck fled to Taiwan in 1949 during China’s Communist revolution, Beijing had a golden opportunity.  They could have declared victory.

The Communists knew that they would not be able to pursue the KMT-Nationalists because taking Taiwan is nearly impossible, even today. If Beijing’s goal was reunification, they should have declared a Machiavellian victory, pretended to recognize Taiwan as a nation, and normalized relations.  · · · →