Chris Cyr

Imperfect Daoist.

[Chris Cyr @Poppersghost]

君君，臣臣，父父，子子。

[Vials @hisbelovedsleep]

this is what it looked like in Tucker Carlson's bedroom on that fateful night

[Chris Cyr @Poppersghost]

It makes a sort of sense. Russia used energy as a weapon. Why make yourself dependent on that?

[Sergey Radchenko @DrRadchenko]

So the biggest take-away from the Putin-Xi summit is that *despite* the crazy situation in the Strait of Hormuz, China is still refusing to back Power of Siberia 2. Despite Putin trying very hard before the visit to hint that a breakthrough was in the offing. Wow.

[Air-Power | NatSec Ledger @NatSecLedger]

Over 50% of US aviation losses in Epic Fury were MQ-9s, with the share of combat losses running even higher (70+%). USAF leadership has addressed this directly in recent remarks (video 👇). And as I've noted before, when you stack Epic Fury's combined combat and non-combat crewed aviation losses against Desert Storm, this campaign actually compares favorably to what the coalition took against Saddam in '91. This has been documented by @VLO225 and others in more detail (🔗👇).

[NetAskari @NetAskari]

EXCLUSIVE: How the track foreigners in China - We got rare access to demo system developed by the Ministry of Public Security in China for the prefecture of Zhangjiakou, to track and surveil foreigners visiting or being residents ( actually it applies to most nationals as well, but in this case it seems to be aimed at foreigners ). It is officially known as "Dynamic control platform for overseas personnel". 1/12

[Chris Cyr @Poppersghost]

What a way to die.

[Black Hole @konstructivizm]

Japan has built a $2,500 cardboard drone. It actually flies fast while avoiding radar!

At first, the military thought it was a joke.

A plane made of… cardboard?

Yet, this drone can travel nearly 80 km at over 100 km/h.

And the craziest thing is that its material becomes an advantage.

Cardboard reflects radar waves less than some conventional materials.

As a result, it's harder to detect in the sky.

Japan can even transport hundreds of them in a single container and assemble them in minutes.

While some countries are building drones costing millions, they're focusing on machines that are practically disposable.

Perhaps this is the new technological warfare:
Simple, ultra-fast weapons… produced like Amazon packages.

Subscribe to discover incredible human advancements in five minutes a day.

[Chris Cyr @Poppersghost]

The Laskaris family is Kurdish?

[Chris Cyr @Poppersghost]

The Open AI case amazes me because I have only been following it on Twitter.

All those long posts and I don’t even recall reading that Open AI was going for a statute of limitations angle. Complete fail on the part of the people providing the commentary here.

[Chris Cyr @Poppersghost]

@EricLDaugh Surprised. I thought the search happened after he gave a fake ID. Anyways, it was something the cops debated on the scene if I remember correctly.

[KC-10 Driver ✈️ 👨‍✈️ B-737 Wrangler @MCCCANM]

Good illustration of ejection seat technology:

Look at where the rockets on the seats fire. Both jets are inverted when the ejection is initiated, so the seat should fire the pilots straight at the ground…

But they are smart. They fire enough to clear the jet, then re-orient themselves & fire enough to slow the descent. Once they do, the seats cut the occupants loose from the straps & deploy the parachute.

Look where the parachutes deploy in relation to the jets. Absolutely incredible technology!

[Chris Cyr @Poppersghost]

@MCCCANM We used to have a very nice club near Eglin, but detached right on the beach, until a hurricane took it out. By the time I was in middle school, clubs were being collapsed into all rank affairs. We went once at Hurlburt and it was really just a different vibe.

[Chris Cyr @Poppersghost]

@MCCCANM They were nice until I started middle school. They probably deteriorated a little earlier.

My grandfather used to take me regularly growing up. My dad was also a member but his generation, he graduated from the academy in the mid 80s, never seemed at home in the clubs.

[Chris Cyr @Poppersghost]

@Wurmserscribit I live in China. Have for almost my entire adult life. But thanks for the platitudes.

I was at Wangfujing when the Jasmine Revolution was the latest craze. I don’t think you really understand what you are saying.

[Yaroslav Trofimov @yarotrof]

UAE says a drone targeted its nuclear power plant, caused a fire outside the inner perimeter.

[Chris Cyr @Poppersghost]

@Wurmserscribit The linkage in the original post, however, is bizarre.

Cuba and Iran are irrelevant to Chinese stability.

[Chris Cyr @Poppersghost]

@Mariusj001 I was watching this on the 军事 channel I think this Friday!

[Michael Pettis @michaelxpettis]

The arithmetic is pretty stark, Patrick. China is the largest manufacturer in the world, and the US the second largest. Together they account for roughly 48% of global manufacturing (versus roughly 41% of global GDP).

China's growth model locks its economy into structural expansion of its manufacturing sector, with OECD estimates suggesting that China's share of global manufacturing will expand sharply over the next five years.

Meanwhile there is a bipartisan consensus in the US that it must reverse the relative decline in its share of global manufacturing, and so the US is increasingly imposing trade and industrial policies aimed at supporting the manufacturing sector.

This is where the arithmetic becomes a problem. If two countries representing nearly half of global manufacturing both decide, albeit for different reasons, to expand their shares of global manufacturing, someone else's share must decline just as rapidly. Because neither the US nor China is eager to expand in low-value-added manufacturing, this implies that their expansion is far more likely to affect advanced economies than developing economies, and that mostly means Europe.

That is why it may be a bit silly when EU and Canadian officials claim that the best way to combat Chinese mercantilism and rising US protectionism is to sign more FTAs with the rest of the world. I think they hope that by pretending they can sidestep events in the US and China, they can turn the clock back ten years. But while these FTAs can provide lots of pomp and signing ceremonies, I don't think they address at all the basic arithmetic problem.

[Chris Cyr @Poppersghost]

@JaycelAdkins Hopefully when the time comes he’ll take an interest in some other Greek works.

I think the myths will help with that.

Think one of the reasons Journey to the West has such a hold on him is that he’s actually visited temples to Guanyin and the like.

[Chris Cyr @Poppersghost]

@JaycelAdkins Greek myths are about the only things that can really compete with the Chinese classics for my kid.

Although he has just discovered The Three Musketeers which gives Water Margins a run for its money.

[Jeffrey J. Hall 🇯🇵🇺🇸 @mrjeffu]

Video: Japanese visitors got to dunk an American airman into water at the Yokota Air Base Friendship Festival.
Various US bases in Japan are holding friendship festivals this weekend that offer Japanese the chance to interact with US troops.

[Chris Cyr @Poppersghost]

Source article:

https://t.co/x3v7FJ6vdQ

[Chris Cyr @Poppersghost]

Xi is on the record going back at least to 2015 saying he does not understand the Thucydides trap to mean war is inevitable. Back than he denied the trap exists.

An article republished by the party journal Qiushi gives an idea of what he likely means.

[CBS News @CBSNews]

When China's President Xi JinPing referenced the Thucydides Trap in his meeting with President Trump in Beijing yesterday, that subtle reference was likely lost on most people. But CBS News contributor Aaron MacLean explains how that rhetoric actually constitutes an aggressive statement about China's view that it is on the rise and America is declining; and that if America fails to make room for the rising nation, it could lead to inevitable war. @AaronBMacLean

[Chris Cyr @Poppersghost]

Sparta’s fear of Athens is what made war inevitable. Not some natural law. There is no reason the US and China need to let their legitimate fears become a destructive spiral.

We just need to find ways to keep on kicking the can down the road and hope things work out.