NunoSempere
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User ID: 1101
NunoSempere
3hr ago
Thanks! Yeah, I may have overestimated the significance, thanks for the correction.
NunoSempere
1d ago
Here are some items I'm looking at this week; discussion & pushback welcome.
Microsoft reveals some details of how an unknown group bypassed their Azure AI API guardrails and created a hacking as a service scheme.
Navy Lookout looks at Russia v. NATO confrontation in the Baltic over the last few months
Mozambique opposition asks help from EU and UN in response to repression by the ruling president
One person dies from Ebola in Sierra Leone.
Finnland seems to have a bit more specific evidence on the internet and power cable cuts, reducing the degree of plausible deniability that Russia and China can claim they have.
Japan panel of experts says probability of "megaquake" in the next 30 years has risen to 80%
"Bomb Iran? Await a Trump Nuclear Deal? Topple the Regime? Israel Weighs Its Options", considers the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
Iran reinforces their Natanz nuclear facility.
Dubai sends 68 tonnes of urgent medical supplies to Gaza
Iran is also looking to Russia to bolster its defense, and are now set to sign a 'comprehensive strategic partnership' treaty.
Iran also sent a surveillance ship out to sea, but is also holding nuclear talks with Europeans
Israel tried to embed explosivies within centrifuge components bought by Iran, but got caught.
Saudi Arabia announces plans to enrich and sell uranium
Swedish dockworkers vote to block military shipments to and from Israel
Tehran says 5,000 people working to expand Bushehr nuclear plant
China is developing methods to target Starlink satellites
Chinese Wuhan bat virus researcher continues with gain of function research
US adds Chinese company which develops open source LLMs to the entities list, "because these entities advance the People's Republic of China's military modernization through the development and integration of advanced artificial intelligence research". via @bdsqlsz
From the past: China could attack the US with EMPs.
Ukraine and Russia both had large attack waves.
Trump to meet Putin 'very quickly' after taking office
"You can't put a ship over every nautical mile of pipeline or cable -- it's an impossible task," says NATO commander. "There are approximately 50,000 big ships out there worldwide and they can drop anchors and drag them over infrastructure."
Sudan might fracture
In 2024, 444 terrorist attacks against security forces killed 685 personnel in Pakistan.
H5 Bird Flu confirmed in three additional domestic cats in Los Angeles
CDC telling laboratories to test for H5N1 specifically faster
Sierra Leone declares public health emergency over mpox after two new cases
WHO starts $1.5 billion funding appeal
Bird Flu mutations found in Texas
Study finds certain H5N1 strains in cattle linked to milder human illness
TTP abducts 18 Pakistani nuclear engineers, possibly to mask shipments of uranium to Iran.
NunoSempere
3d ago
Thanks!
It's infuriating that there seems to be no defense/response to this
I know right. The antecedents are that Russia tried a similar thing, cutting internet and power cables in the Baltics, and it didn't result in much of a response from NATO. So now China has tried the same thing in Taiwan, and it isn't getting much of a response, so hostilities keep increasing.
With Russia I think the West has come to believe that there are some bright lines that separate the conflict from a full NATO/Russia confrontation, whereas Russia doesn't believe that, and keeps finding new areas of semi covert sabotage. The danger is that by blurring declarations of war into gradients, and having ineffective deterrence, low commitments, you just waltz into continued escalation.
The situation with China isn't that far along, and in particular, trade continues. But it's trending in a similar direction. And cutting internet cables just seems so hostile to me.
NunoSempere
8d ago
Some stuff I'm looking at this week. The Facebook censorship policy change seems important. The Russia/EU Suwałki gap items are also pretty interesting.
Some digital brain simulations is able to predict fMRI data.
US sanctions Chinese company for cyberattacks
110K Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces to stage military exercise
Time to get rid of TTP once and for all, says Pakistani PM
There was aurge in armed activities by Baloch 'pro-independence' groups in 2024
Climate extremes significantly disrupted global water cycle in 2024, says the Global Water Monitor Report
"In the arena of Western politics where they’d cut their teeth, the worst imaginable outcome was that a poorly phrased missive might rile an EU country’s prime minister or upset an industry lobby group. Now, they’d inserted themselves into a bitter ethnic dispute where the worst thing that could happen was somebody burning down your house and cutting your head off."; Politico on Europe and Nagorno-Karabach
NATO to deploy nearly a dozen ships to the Baltic Sea to protect underwater infrastructure
Tibet earthquake kills more than 120 people
Jerusalem Post calling for a pre-emptive strike on Iran's nuclear program
Hamas approves Israeli list of captives to be freed as part of Gaza ceasefire deal
Israeli soldier flees Brazil amid Gaza war crimes investigation
Japanese crime leader pleads guilty to conspiring to sell nuclear materials to Iran
Deepsea internet cable connecting Taiwan to the rest of the world cut off by China.
Human Metapneumovirus (HMPV) outbreak in China; reporting somewhat sensationalistic
Russia intends to share advanced space tech with North Korea, says Blinken
Blinken reveals that the US began supplying weapons to Ukraine before the Russian invasion
Russian TV personalities, including a Duma member, talk about why Russia is cutting energy cables on national TV. "[The point] is to create problems for them, and it is creating problems", "We need the Suwałki Gap from Kaliningrad to Leningrad", "So let's go ahead and invade Estonia, right? Why just Estonia? Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania". It's pretty good TV.
Lithuania to protect said Suwalki Gap more intensely, ahead of planned disconnection of Baltic countries from Soviet-era grid shared with Russia and Belarus.
Russia says Ukraine Fired US-made missiles at Belgorod region
Techcrunch covers Chinese cyberattack capabilities. "The U.S. says Chinese government-backed hackers have — in some cases for years — been burrowing deep into the networks of U.S. critical infrastructure, including water, energy, and transportation providers. The goal, officials say, is to lay the groundwork for potentially destructive cyberattacks in the event of a future conflict between China and the United States, such as over a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan"
344K Michigan turkeys killed after detecting bird flu outbreaks
First H5 bird flu death reported in US
Parting Biden administration to remove regulations to facilitate civil nuclear cooperation with India
State Department accuses Sudan's Rapid Support Forces of committing genocide
Maoist rebels in India kill nine
North Korea does further intermediate-range missile tests
Indonesia joins BRICS
Paraguay and Venezuela suspend relations after Paraguay recognizes Edmundo González as the president
Masked men kidnap son-in-law of Edmundo González
US to maybe purchase Greenland??
International flights resume from Damascus
India confirms first case of HMPV
Zuckerberg announces end to censorship in Facebook and Instagram, asks US to pressure Europeans and others for more free speech.
NunoSempere
15d ago
Good point, thanks
NunoSempere
15d ago
Added, thanks
It's a judgment call. I'm actually kind of surprised that the IDF estimates are in the same order of magnitude. I could say that you could split the difference, but that's a ratchet.
One way to get numbers would be to look at population before and after. Another would be to try to work back from satellite imagery (just checked and google earth doesn't have images from the last year yet, and commercial providers crashed my tab). Another would be to notice that by the time you get vaccine-derived polio, the population has to be pretty weakened. Another hint is the recent declaration of a famine by FEWS (since withdrawn because of USAID pressure, which funds FEWS). Israel destroying one of the last Northern Gaza hospitals also seems pretty concerning.
Idk man, take the 17K estimated by the IDF, say they only catch 75% direct deaths, and that direct deaths are 65% of total deaths, that's already 34.87K.
Then on top of this you could say, well, are these deaths justified. I have some sympathy for that, and I can see the argument where if your enemy is taking refuge in a hospital, then destroy the hospital—I wouldn't make the argument, but maybe that's just, like, me being weak, man. But I think this is separate from the magnitude of the death and destruction, where 40K is just not very far off.
Some stuff I'm paying attention to this week:
Drag marks on the seabed were discovered following damage to the Estlink 2 undersea power cable, which connects Finland and Estonia. This provides further evidence of sabotage.
Chinese is facing a human metapneumovirus outbreak, with authorities ramping up detection and response protocols
Palestine: a year in review.
Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov shared Moscow's opposition to the deployment of Western peacekeeping forces in Ukraine
The IDF reports 891 casualties since Hamas' October 7 attack. Compare with the upwards of 40K dead Gazans.
Pakistan attacked some positions of the TTP in Afghanistan, leading to the Afghan Taliban hitting several points in Pakistan.
Iran to hold nuclear talks with France, Britain and Germany on January 13
Israel announced increase in propaganda budget by USD 150M to combat Gaza narrative
Israeli Report to UN Exposes Hamas Torture, Sexual Abuse of Hostages, Including Children
Israeli raid shuts last major hospital in north Gaza
Yemen's Houthis claim to have shot down 13th MQ-9 Reaper drone
China calls for withdrawal of U.S. missile system from the Philippines
Himalayan megadam gives China power to turn off taps in India
Leaked documents reveal that Russia has prepared target lists for over 160 sites in Japan and South Korea in the event of a major war, dating back to 2013-2014. The plans, which focus on military engagements in the Asia-Pacific region, highlight Russia's intentions to use non-nuclear cruise missiles to disrupt military operations and include both military and civilian infrastructure targets. Among the military sites are command headquarters and radar installations, while civilian targets include power plants and major transportation infrastructures like tunnels and bridges. The documents indicate that of the 160 targets, 82 are military installations, with the remainder being civilian infrastructure.
Taiwanese fighter who served in Ukraine says island unprepared for Chinese invasion
The US and Japan issued their first guidelines for extended deterrence, which outline the potential use of U.S. nuclear weapons in response to threats from China and North Korea. Final authorization remains with the US president. Seems more like something to calm Japan's nerves than anything else
The Chinese navy and Coast Guard conducted a maritime blockade drill in the Miyako Strait, a strategic waterway near Japanese territory where U.S. forces are stationed.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has directed the government and Sberbank to collaborate with China on AI, aiming to bolster Russia's capabilities, particularly military ones, like autonomous combat systems, in the face of Western sanctions.
"The people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are one family. No one can sever our family bonds, and no one can stop the historical trend of national reunification," Xi said in a speech televised on China's state broadcaster CCTV.
Chinese-Russian air co-operation in the Artic has Norad's 'full attention'
Russia threatens more nuclear tests as World War 3 fears intensify. Russia ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) in 2000, but has since withdrawn from the agreement
Russia will abandon moratorium on deploying short- and medium range milliles
Russia angry that state media blocked on Telegram in the EU
'We are waging an existential war': M23's Bertrand Bisimwa on DRC conflict
Delaware officials investigate possible bird flu outbreak after dozens of snow geese test positive. Small microcosm of how H5N1 is playing out
Sweden is planning to secure additional land for cemeteries in anticipation of potential war casualties,
Also, Scott Alexander also gave some thanks to me and my group at the end of this post on H5N1, :)-
NunoSempere
23d ago
Feliz navidad all! I've appreciated your comments over these past months.
French military is withdrawing/being ousted from more African country
Chinese AI lab Deepseek releases a model on par with the previous generation, trained for "just" $5M
Nigerian media is up in arms after a survey-based report estimated 2.2M kidnappings in the past year. The report estimates this through a survey-based method: 3.2% of households reported a kidnapping in the last year. I'm not convinced by the methodology—consider lizardman's constant—though they do interview 12K households. Though a friend with Nigerian family says these numbers are plausible?
Protests in Mozambique after election results, now over 100 deaths.
Conspiracy theory that Israel exploded a small nuclear bomb in Syria.
Trump Reportedly Offers To Hold High-level Nuclear Talks With Iran
Putin says Russia is ready to compromise with Trump on Ukraine war
Putin meets Slovak PM over gas imports
UK anti-corruption minister accused of taking £4bn bribe for Russia-funded nuclear plant in Bangladesh
FEWS.net removed a famine warning for Gaza after pressure from Israel and the US (which funds FEWS).
Famine continues in Sudan
Outage between undersea cable that connects Finish and Estonian power grids
Syrian opposition factions announce that they will dissolve and merge under the authority of the Ministry of Defense.
Guatemalan police rescue at least 160 children and 40 women held by a Jewish sect
NunoSempere
24d ago
Feliz navidad!
NunoSempere
29d ago
I did mention Aljazeera having a line on the Middle East.
Will make sure to keep an eye on whether Reuters coverage of US politics seems more biased. I give an example in footnote 1, but my sense was that things like that were not particularly prevalent.
NunoSempere
29d ago
Makes sense!
NunoSempere
29d ago
Thanks!
NunoSempere
30d ago
Also a draft of a post ranking various press outlets; I'm curious to get people's sense of whether the below tracks, and whether there are adjacent topics people are interested in (it's long for a comment, but it feels a bit short for an article)
A Guide to Written News Machines, Reuters to RT
First come the high volume, terse commercial news agencies, like Reuters (Taiwan reports near doubling of Chinese warships nearby) or the Associated Press (Ethnic armed group claims capture of a strategic Myanmar town and control of border with Bangladesh). Their news—particularly Reuters'—is to the point, with little to no spin, and produced fast. Their role in the news ecosystem is to gather facts that other outlets can give their own spin to. Bloomberg (TSMC’s Arizona Trials Put Plant Productivity on Par with Taiwan) is in a similar boat, except that their news isn't sold to downstream publications, but rather stands in some nebulous relation with their financial terminal business. These publications are generally reliable1.
Then come the national propaganda outlets, which range from the relatively more high brow to the directly propagandistic. Of the former, my favorite is Aljazeera (Russia’s Putin launches drill of nuclear forces simulating strikes), the prestige news media source of Qatar: it has a clear line on the Middle East, but otherwise great and detached coverage of events worldwide. Then we have the BBC (Tiger mosquitoes behind dengue fever rise in Europe), Deutsche Welle (Sudan truce talks start in Switzerland without Sudanese army). On the more propagandist end you have Voice of America (Biden visits Angola on first trip to Africa as president), South China Sea Morning Post (Russia’s formidable Kazan nuclear submarine arrives in Cuba under watchful US eyes), Russia Today (Belarus has nuclear weapons more powerful than Oreshnik – Lukashenko), Xinhua News Agency (World Central Kitchen suspends Gaza operations after staff reportedly killed), Pravda (Stoltenberg on Poland potentially shooting down missiles over Ukraine: NATO will not be involved in the conflict), or Anadolu Agency (Hezbollah chief says it reviewed US truce proposal, cease-fire in Netanyahu's hands). These generally offer useful pointers to events happening in the world, but are not in broad strokes trustworthy, particularly for crucial political details. Russian media will straight out lie, e.g., by paraphrasing quotes very misleadingly.
Beyond these we have publications like The Guardian (Israeli foreign minister says decision on all-out war against Hezbollah is near), The New York Times (Putin Arrives in North Korea as Ukraine War Redefines Ties With Kim), The New York Post (Ukraine has lost 43K soldiers since start of Russian war, Zelensky says in rare update), Newsweek (China Throws Its Weight Around Russia's Backyard), The Telegraph (Exclusive: Nato in talks to deploy more nuclear weapons), which both do original research, but are also in the business of purveying opinions. A variant on this ilk are local newspapers in smaller countries, like the Jerusalem Post (IDF carries out exercises readying troops for war in Lebanon), the Palestine Chronicle (‘Surpassing World War II’ Figures – Israel Dropped Over 85,000 Tonnes of Bombs on Gaza), The Times of India (In anger at Canada minister’s remarks, Pannun threatens to ‘Balkanise India’), or Pakistan's The Express Tribune (Second mpox case in Pakistan confirmed at Peshawar Airport). These local newspapers tend to repackage Reuters/AFP/AP for their coverage of international news, but have more granularity on events in their nations. A lower effort variant is the online presence of US cable news networks like CNN (US concerned Israel’s Iron Dome could be overwhelmed in war with Hezbollah, officials say) or Fox News (China attacks on Philippine boats are to provoke US, prep for Taiwan war, experts warn).
The British tabloids have a general soft spot in my heart for hightlighting possible causes for fear in very clear and sensationalistic terms. Some of these are The Daily Mail (Mobbed by 'followers' as he finally goes to jail: 'Messianic' JSO founder Roger Hallam, 58, who masterminded Insulate Britain splinter group with his German lover 'eco-muse', 26, during lockdown and says protesters should be 'willing to die' for the cause), the Daily and Sunday Express (Russian nuclear submarine spotted off UK coast sparks emergency defence meeting), The Sun (NUKE FEARS Putin came so close to launching a nuke in Ukraine that crisis meetings were held over the fallout hitting BRITAIN), etc.
On a rough tally, the sources mentioned above add up to less than ~40% of the links I pay attention to. The rest is the long tail of specialist news sources, official announcements, obscure outlets, advocacy groups, encyclopedias, social media, prediction markets, discussion fora, aid organizations, industry periodicals, scientific papers, small-time authors, and ultimately the very miscellaneous.
1. Here is an instance where they weren't; I don't think the post was a fair summary of these two Truth Social posts. The story was also covered by the BBC and others.
NunoSempere
30d ago
Some items I've been reading this week:
Uzbek man kills Moscow general at behest of Ukraine service
Study analyzed data from 56,450 stars observed by NASA's Kepler telescope and discovered 2,889 superflares on 2,527 stars, establishing that superflares are significantly more common than previously understood. The energy released during such an event could reach one octillion joules, far surpassing the Carrington Event of 1859.
Guyana is cooperating more with the US, amidst conflict with Venezuela and ExxonMobil operating in contested waters, reports a Venezuela pres
At least 110 people have died in 7 weeks of post-election protests in Mozambique. Protesters alleged that the presidential election was rigged in favour of the long-entrenched Frelimo party, which has been in power since the country gained independence in 1975. Protests escalated following the killing of two opposition officials.
The world's 'deadliest day' when over 800,000 people died | World
isp.netscape.com seems to be a frontend for associated press
Donald Trump 'considering proposal to strike Iran's nuclear programme', and so is Israel, now that they can freely operate in Syrian airspace after the fall of the Assad regime.
An article in The Times looks at how Israel has been using AI to systematically identify airstrike targets, following up on earlier reporting.. “During the period in which I served in the target room [between 2010 and 2015], you needed a team of around 20 intelligence officers to work for around 250 days to gather something between 200 to 250 targets,” Tal Mimran, a lecturer at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and a former legal adviser in the IDF, tells TIME. “Today, the AI will do that in a week.”. One intelligence officer tasked with authorizing a strike recalled dedicating roughly 20 seconds to personally confirming a target, which could amount to verifying that the individual in question was male.
The US Department of Defense's Annual Report to Congress reviews China's ambitions and capabilities.
Russian air force [flies](https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/12/18/russian-air-force-flies-nuclear-cSome items I'm tracking:apable-bombers-near-alaska-a87390) nuclear-capable bombers in neutral waters near Aalaska
California Gov. Declares 'roactive' State of Emergency Over Bird Flu
Wisconsin reports presumptive avian flu in poultry worker as California declares emergency
First person in US to develop severe illness from bird flu is hospitalized
Drones reported above N.J. nuclear power plants, N.Y. airport, officials say
FAA bans drones over several New Jersey towns
Switzerland to spend £200m upgrading nuclear shelters
NunoSempere
1mo ago
The Aztecs didn't doubt that you had to sacrifice humans on the altars, that's just what you do.
I keep coming back to this [folk theorem](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk_theorem_(game_theory), which points to a fucked up equilibrium where many/most Aztecs don't believe in human sacrifice, but believe they will be punished by others if they don't do it or punish others.
NunoSempere
1mo ago
Use git?
NunoSempere
1mo ago
The Economist gives a higher yet still small number as a proportion of total population.
NunoSempere
1mo ago
Letter from Biden to the Speaker of the House on US deployments is interesting. I appreciate how it subverts various mechanisms for Congressional oversight.
From doctor to brutal dictator: the rise and fall of Syria's Bashar al Assad
An article in Haaretz openly talks about Israel's nuclear program, noting a shift from Israel's official stance of "strategic ambiguity"
China warships near Taiwan nearly double in 24 hours, ahead of possible wargames. China also expressed dissatisfaction with visits to Hawaii and Guam from Taiwan's president
Syria rebels name transitional prime minister, Mohammed al-Bashir. He was the previous prime minister of the statelet in the region controlled by HTS.
NK saber rattling. My sense is they might test a nuclear weapon in the next few months (15% by April?)
US transition of power soon
Belarus president confirms that nuclear weapons are stationed in Belarus, reports Russia Today.
Putin claims that its intermediate-range missile system, the Oreshnik minimizes the need of using nuclear weapons.
Ukraine war: US gives $20bn to Kyiv funded by seized Russian assets. It's deposited to a World Bank fund, where it nominally can't be spent to buy military assets (though it of course funges with civilian spending).
Zelensky says that Ukraine has lost 43K soldiers since the start of the war, with an additional 370K wounded, and that losses oon the Russian side are around 200K, with an additional ~500K injured. With a population of 37.9M for Ukraine, that corresponds to 0.11% dead, 1% wounded. Wikipedia reports similar numbers. The ratio of repoprted Ukranian to Russian losses is also very steep. The Economist instead estimates 60K to 100K deaths for Ukraine. But these are just... not that high? Very, very far from "total war".
Genetic analysis of H5N1 in kid in California: "the virus gene segments sequenced most closely resemble those segments from recent B3.13 viruses detected in California in humans, dairy cattle and poultry. This analysis supports the conclusion that the overall risk to the general public associated with the ongoing HPAI A(H5N1) outbreak in U.S. dairy cattle and poultry has not changed and remains low at this time."
UK considering ring-vaccination campaign to tackle new mpox outbreak if more cases emerge
Drone strikes UN vehicle on way to inspect Ukrainian nuclear plant
Israel arrested 30 people to whom Iran was paying relatively small amounts of money for spying and sabotage tasks
Assad fell, some good coverage here. Israel also took the opportunity to get a buffer zone in Syria.
Various European countries are stopping or revering asylum claims from Syrians
Arrakan Army now controls the Myanmar/Bangladesh border.
The Russian Federal Security Service arrests a German-Russian man for allegedly planning to sabotage a rail line in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, on behalf of the Security Service of Ukraine.
Saudi Arabia to host 2034 world cup
NunoSempere
1mo ago
Also changed the font to something which might be a bit better
NunoSempere
1mo ago
Thanks, typos fixed
NunoSempere
1mo ago
Meanwhile I'm still running my little intelligence agency, and we keep putting out weekly minutes (of which stuff like the above is my draft for Thursday). Today I was very frustrated because someone wants to give us a grant but their ops is fucked up and so we might have to pay $5k in overhead basically just because. On the plus side, my cofounder has been doing very fast wargames for the items in this list and these have generally been very enlightening, because they make it much easier to think through what the "obvious steps" are in catastrophes like that in a way that more abstract thinking doesn't do it for me.
Yesterday I posted a blogpost on the "grain of truth problem", where you can't really update well if you observe something which you previously thought had probability ~0—many of the big picture frameworks people use to make sense of AI have fail and imho will continue to fail because they are too rigid. I put it on twitter, but it failed to reach anybody with real power.
/end of rant.
NunoSempere
1mo ago
Pretty quiet week for me, but then again I'm focused on events that could escalate. The South Korea martial law declaration was poorly executed (compare with the 1981 Spanish coup), and overall I thought it wasn't a big deal. Maybe I'm just desensitized. As the Lebanon front closes a new front emerged in Syria, which seems like a bigger deal (because it's a bigger country), but nothing decisive has happened there yet.
Russia moved some assets outside Syria, perhaps suggesting that it will not reinforce Assad.
United Healthcare CEO assassinated
Meta plans to build $10B spanning undersea internet cable for its exclusive use.
Hezbollah fires the first missiles since ceasefire
Estonia launches large-scale NATO exercises near border with Russia, together with France, the United Kingdom, the United States and Latvia. I like Estonia and consider them competent.
Catholic bishop attacked and robbed in Sudan, by the RSF. Meanwhile the pope calls for peace
Marburg virus has been spreading a bit. I previously was vaguely paying attention to it, but now it's come up often enough that I'm more actively tracking it.
UK orders 5M doses of H5 vaccine
China state news point out how the US has repeatedly promised and failed to provide security to Africa.
Pakistan army kills some jihadist insurgents
The South Korea military law declaration seems like a nothingburger.
Flu-like disease kills 143 in Congo.
French prime minister resigns. Unclear if Macron (President) will hang on to power.
Meanwhile, Senegal and Chad asked France troops to leave. France presence in Africa has declined a lot over the last few years.
China banned exports of various raw materials to the US.
NunoSempere
1mo ago
My answer here is that there is no meaningful "we", and your level of analysis is decoupled from actions you can personally take, because the US natsec blob gains meaning from opposition to China and is thus pretty set on that.
Coupling it with actions would be much more interesting, e.g., "why don't we form a voting block that attempts to influence either mainstream party into doing so?", "why don't we see if we can get 100 people to call their US representatives about [whatever]?", "why don't I personally see how I can meaningfully trade with China, e.g., by manufacturing stuff there".
It's pretty much like this every week (or here for the final version). I think reading just one week is unduly alarming, because it doesn't make apparent that there always bad things happening in the world.
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