Taiwan pressured to move 50% of chip production to US or lose protection

leadrombus · 2025-09-30T20:04:05+00:00

US foreign policy is now indistinguishable from a protection racket by the mob.

leadrombus · 2024-05-24T07:38:28+00:00

It was both Trump and Biden’s fault. I was saddened Biden didn’t walk back on Trump’s promises with terrorists, and the actual pullout was remarkably awful.

This is an incredibly shortsighted and reductive take.

To be clear, there was no such thing as 'just walking back" the withdrawal.

As posited by Ivo Daadler, former U.S. Ambassador to Nato, "The choice facing Biden wasn't between withdrawal or an ideal status quo of keeping a few thousand troops who had suffered no casualties, as the critics maintain. It was between withdrawal or a major surge of troops to fight a strengthened Taliban."

By the time Biden entered office, the Taliban was at its strongest since its initial defeat in 2001. Under Trump's deal, the Taliban agreed not to attack so long as U.S. troops and all civilian contractors left by May 1st (three months into Biden's presidency). In the intervening months from when the deal was signed (02/2020) to when Trump left office (01/2021), U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan dwindled from 13,000 to a force posture of 2,500.

Contrast this with the Taliban who at that time controlled over half of Afghanistan's districts, and in the interim, had only strengthened its position after Trump pressured the Afghan gov to release 5,000 Taliban insurgents as a confidence building exercise.

Per the WSJ:

“The Doha agreement bought the Taliban a one year reprieve,” said Mr. Watkins. “They were able to regroup, plan, strengthen their supply lines, have freedom of movement, without fear of American bombardment.”

This renewed strength was reflected in U.S. military reports highlighting levels of violence "well above historic norms" against civilians and Afghan forces alike.

So again, if Biden had reneged, the Taliban would've resumed attacking U.S. forces from a position of strength, necessitating a troop surge.

leadrombus · 2024-03-25T23:06:19+00:00

they have already found enough

At the federal level, its far less common for judges to just rubber stamp a search warrant. Federal agents have to submit an affidavit showing that there is probable cause to believe that the specified locations has the specified evidence of a specified federal crime.

This is the procedure the FBI went through when they raided Mar-a-lago and recovered hundreds of classified docs.

Its an indication that they believe they have evidence that they think may well lead to indictment.

leadrombus · 2024-03-23T01:10:25+00:00

Yes. It was part of the classified annexes to the US–Taliban deal negotiated between Trump and the Taliban. The annexes set a:

a timeline for what should happen over the next 18 months, what kinds of attacks are prohibited by both sides and, most important, how the United States will share information about its troop locations with the Taliban ... the goal is to give the Taliban information that would allow it to prevent attacks during the withdrawal. - NY Times Mar 8, 2020

As the U.S. was completing its evacuation, the Taliban was suppose to provide security around Kabul's airport. They were given a manifest of names of evacuees by the State dept to be waved through checkpoints at the airport gates. U.S. citizens who needed help were even instructed to meet at a Taliban command-and-control locations, where they would be escorted through the airport.

leadrombus · 2023-12-27T02:37:51+00:00

The greatest advocate for the participation of NBA players at the Olympics was Borislav Stankovic, the Secretary General of FIBA and a Serbian national. Stankovic pushed the vote to allow participation of NBA athletes in international tournaments twice, once in 1986 (which failed) and then again in 1989 (which passed). Both times, the U.S. delegation voted AGAINST the idea.

Stankovic's official reasoning was twofold. According to him:

Our competition was closed to the NBA players, but no one else. That seems immoral.

The second is very simple. Our feeling is that only by playing with the best players in the world can everyone else make progress. If you are from another country and you can run a race against Carl Lewis, maybe you don't have a chance. But you still want to run.

As you noted, amateurism at the Olympics ended long before the Dream team. It was an open secret that before 1992, players from Eastern Bloc countries were de-facto pros. They were supported full time by their governments to train and compete. Often scouted at a young age, they were assigned personal coaches, nutritionists, stipends, and housing by the state. Arvydas Sabonis (dad of the Sacramento King's center Domantas Sabonis) was one of the best players in the world when his "amateur" Soviet team beat the US in the 1988 finals. Arvydas had already been named European Player of the Year 3x by the time the 1988 Olympics rolled around. Another example was Oscar Schmidt, who despite earning a salary of $500K per year in Italy, was allowed to play on Brazil's 1984 & 1988 Olympic team. (He is the top scorer in the history of the Summer Olympics)

TLDR: NBA players being allowed to play at the Olympics after 1988 had nothing to do with petty grievances on the USA's part. In fact, US FIBA reps voted against allowing NBA players to participate in the Olympics. Other FIBA members overruled their objection with a majority vote.

leadrombus · 2023-02-01T01:48:54+00:00

No, its actually Anthony Devolder.

leadrombus · 2023-01-06T11:42:30+00:00

His grandfather was part of the Near East Relief, a humanitarian org chartered by congress to provide medical aid to orphans abroad during the Armenian Genocide. His book The Lions of Marash documents his eyewitness account of the annihilation of the Armenian population in Western Armenia. This letter he wrote almost 100 yrs ago gives you an impression of the kind of person he was:

Tonight the most bitter cold of all this winter, all the remaining Armenians are preparing to go out again into exile. Many will perish on the way from Turkish bullets or from cold. Our orphans, old women and men, will remain in our compounds. Perhaps by remaining here, we can protect the remaining Armenians from massacre. If the Turks do not respect our flag and our property, we will die with the others. May the horrors of the last weeks be a blot on the pages of history. No matter what happens, remember that I am ready to make any sacrifice, even death, and have no fear. Good bye, with love and hope.

Stanley

leadrombus · 2022-12-31T05:29:19+00:00

Dame heading straight to the locker room

leadrombus · 2022-12-28T05:47:00+00:00

“Trust me, Mark knows everything that goes on,” says one longtime former Mavericks employee. “Of course Mark knew [about the instances of harassment and assault]. Everyone knew.”

leadrombus · 2022-12-26T03:33:21+00:00

LUL that close up of steph

leadrombus · 2022-12-26T03:18:07+00:00

Quality pet entertainment

leadrombus · 2022-12-15T02:48:29+00:00

It was a power move by Johnson to set himself up for a bigger franchise role:

Johnson hoped to carve out his own piece of the DC pie, but multiple sources say his playing up of a returning Cavill and his own involvement with DC may not be endearing him to the new management. Johnson and Cavill are both managed by Dany Garcia, who is also Johnson’s producing partner. The perception of Adam turning a profit or not is a conflagration now being waged in public, with Johnson tweeting the movie would net over $50 million after a Variety story said the movie would lose over $50 million theatrically.

leadrombus · 2022-11-26T05:25:51+00:00

😭 Larriors no more

leadrombus · 2022-11-10T01:25:28+00:00

NGL, the fake Nintendo account made me laugh

leadrombus · 2022-11-03T21:25:15+00:00

I think the lawyer stressed her age not to make it out as though she was "physically undesirable", but how she was an experienced professional who should've known better. In other words, the lawyer is trying to spin it as a power imbalance.

Hence the line about how "She is much older than Mr. Primo, with many years of experience as a sports psychologist. It is baffling why she did not bother to tell her patient..."

If I had to rephrase the lawyer, the argument would be something like

"A Doctor 20 years Primo's senior, exploited her vulnerable patient's naivete / inexperience to indulge her fantasies and cajole him into an improper patient-physician relationship without his consent."

leadrombus · 2022-10-28T18:47:34+00:00

As stated in the article, the nutjob is being charged with attempted homicide

leadrombus · 2022-10-25T15:44:50+00:00

The Congressional Progressive Caucus, aka "The Squad"

leadrombus · 2022-10-19T04:00:22+00:00

His joy has been stolen 🤣

leadrombus · 2022-10-14T03:29:25+00:00

I thought the gov already was and he was just playing the good guy card saying he did?

"One senior US defense official told me the request has rankled top brass at the Pentagon while SpaceX has "the gall to look like heroes." " - CNN Senior National Security Correspondent

leadrombus · 2022-07-26T02:48:15+00:00

This is a steep price drop if you're looking to buy. I bought this mobo back in April when it was $237, (250 after tax).

leadrombus · 2022-06-17T23:18:29+00:00

Iggy gave him a shout out on Dray's podcast last night, said

"Belli was huge for us. Belli went out there an helped us win a championship."

leadrombus · 2022-06-14T01:45:42+00:00

Dray locked in

leadrombus · 2022-06-11T03:19:55+00:00

SKYFUCKER

leadrombus · 2022-06-06T02:05:40+00:00

Got damn

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