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Comment by breerbgoat | Hacker News Reader

If you look at it from a geopolitical angle, it's much to be celebrated. It means US can rely on its democratic like minded friends to help protect the supply chain of cutting edge chips, against the now very visible alliance of dictatorships (Russia, China, North Korea, Iran).

And make no doubt about it, there is a democratic alliance vs dictatorships here. Russia is aggressively sourcing artillery shells from North Korea, ballistic missiles from Iran, and financing and weapons from China. China incidentally is the economic caretaker of Iran and North Korea.

US accuses China of giving ‘very substantial’ help to Russia’s war machine https://www.politico.eu/article/united-states-accuse-china-h...

China’s Double Threat to Europe: How Beijing’s Support for Moscow and Quest for EV Dominance Undermine European Security https://www.foreignaffairs.com/china/chinas-double-threat-eu...

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> If you look at it from a geopolitical angle, it's much to be celebrated.

I'm not sure. Taiwan is already a democratic ally. They are relying on the chip manufacture to keep them safe politically. Without that they'll quickly get "absorbed" by China.

The US decoupling and isolating technologically/economically from the rest of the world, likely makes war more likely. Not less.

China has already been working hard on decoupling from the West, likely because they are anticipating conflict in the future, so I don't think we'd be doing ourselves a favor by continuing to rely on our supply chains in Asia. In-sourcing doesn't make that conflict more likely, but it does increase our options to react if push comes to shove.

> likely makes war more likely

Maybe, but it also makes the impact of war much less. Because if Taiwan DOES get absorbed, you're not 100% screwed.

Ah, ok. If we're going to be throwing in personal takes on geopolitics, then here's mine.

Less of the "democracies vs dictatorships". It's more like "western imperialism (essentially US & vassals) vs the rest of the world (who wants out of imperialism, endless sanctions, endless wars, the odd genocide or two)"

I don't think that's true. I see Europe and US and much of the rest of the world giving weapons and financial support to Ukraine. I don't see any other country giving weapons and financial support to Russia besides China, North Korea, Iran, and India who is buying more of Russian oil.

There is more than Weapons though. Brazil is supporting the Chinese peace plan - the plan that China built without talking to Ukraine and looks like give Russia everything they want. A lot of Africa nations are drawing closer to Russia - they don't have much to give now, but may in the future. (just them not developing is a win for Russia)

Very true, let's look at some of the strategic partners of the US: Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy, Israel, a state currently committing genocide.

Why is democracy relevant here? Seems like a rather random words thrown in to support your point, without any actual relevance. We're talking supply-chain here. And capitalism. Both really dont care what and if people voted.

Friendshoring https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendshoring is the trend these days, which is why TSMC has setup factories in US and Japan.

> Both really dont care what and if people voted

They kind of do. The reason various Asian companies pulled ahead in their own respective industries is top-down leadership and support. You dump money into them, tell them what to do, and lower the overhead of competition and you can create a world-class company.

We, in the US, can't really do that. We try a little bit, but we don't fully commit so it doesn't work out.

Sadly the State Dept.'s moral panic over a non-aligned Military Complex rings somewhat hollow against the backdrop of 'very substantial' support in an on-going genocide.

Coincidentally, it was Chinese intervention that brought an end to the last genocide the State Dept. was facilitating; the delineation of allies likely warrants reflection

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