Correct, the fact that nuclear retaliation takes a few minutes, not months or years, means that your hypothetical disintegration scenario is irrelevant to my original point: in the event of a full-blown war between the USA and PRC, there will be no semiconductor fabs in the USA, foreign-owned or otherwise.
Nevertheless, I thought it was interesting to explore your postulated post-apocalyptic recapitulation of the Spring and Autumn Period, and shortwave radios are among the things that render it impossible.
I understand that it can be confusing to talk about two different hypothetical situations that happen at different times in the same hypothetical timeline. That's why I separated them into two paragraphs, with a one-sentence paragraph separating them, in order to keep you from confusing them: "The diesel UPS will last that long. What would the aftermath look like months or years later, though? Big coal power plants might be targeted, but most solar panels will continue to work; those can run shortwave radios for decades."
Perhaps repeating the point, as I have above, will have helped you to understand it better. I know it's confusing! But I have faith in you, Bunky!
> Bitcoin transactions require networked computers which, again, won't be around w/o power/batteries, a working network, etc.
This is not correct. Signing a Bitcoin transaction requires a computer, which does not have to be networked or powered on continuously. A small solar panel to charge your USB power bank is plenty of power. Once you have signed the transaction you do need to get it to the Bitcoin network somehow. Because it's a few hundred bytes and contains no secret data, you can base64 encode it and send it by skywave CW Morse code at 10 millibaud if you have to. Not that that would be necessary in practice.
> they're all in Beijing. Pollution is bad there already
It seems that your knowledge of current events in China is nearly as profound as your knowledge of cryptocurrencies, political science, and metallurgy.
> Why do I get the feeling I'm talking to a child who is fairly well-educated but has a patchy understanding of the real world, someone better at history than at science? Maybe someone who games a bit?
Probably because, being the person who said, "The CCP might survive somewhere but more likely would be snuffed out by the people, who would not appreciate the war the CCP had brought upon them," and "'smelt iron' with coal, maybe! Now you've got wrought iron, which is good for what, horseshoes?", you have no basis on which to judge my understanding except ego defense. And, I suppose, you're insecure enough about your maturity to imagine that likening someone a child is some kind of rhetorical power move that might compensate for your total lack of relevant knowledge and epistemic humility.
I did play D&D once, though, 30 years ago. And I played Settlers about once a month in the 02001-02006 period. So you're not entirely wrong.