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Chinese Tech Giant on Brink of Collapse in New U.S. Cold War (archive)
Not Apple. Not Huawei. The first casualty of the high-tech cold war between the United States and China might be the biggest electronics maker you've never heard of.
The Chinese firm ZTE said on Wednesday [PDF] it had ceased "major operating activities" after the Trump administration banned the company last month from using components made in the United States. With manufacturing halted at the ZTE plant in Shenzhen, factory workers have been getting called in for training sessions every other day or so — a snooze, they say. The rest of the time, they loaf around in nearby dorms.
Trading in the company's shares has been suspended for weeks. Staff members have been instructed, in new guidelines reviewed by The New York Times, to reassure anxious clients, while being sure to avoid discussing with them the American technology from which the firm is cut off for the next seven years.
One of China's most internationally successful technology suppliers, with about $17 billion in annual revenue, ZTE is facing a death sentence. The Commerce Department has blocked its access to American-made components until 2025, saying the company failed to punish employees who violated trade controls against Iran and North Korea.
Update: President Trump has vowed to get ZTE "back into business, fast" (archive):
President Xi of China, and I, are working together to give massive Chinese phone company, ZTE, a way to get back into business, fast. Too many jobs in China lost. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 13, 2018
Also at Fortune, WSJ, USAToday and CNN.
Previously: U.S. Intelligence Agency Heads Warn Against Using Huawei and ZTE Products
Huawei CEO Still Committed to the U.S. Market
Rural Wireless Association Opposes U.S. Government Ban on Huawei and ZTE Equipment
ZTE Responds to U.S. Ban on Sales by American Companies to ZTE
(Score: 3, Interesting) by requerdanos on Monday May 14 2018, @01:12AM (5 children)
If "the problem" is that previous leaders have been conservative and polite, and have been afraid to "screw up royally and colossally" and have therefore been too predictable...
Then DJT is, without a doubt, a solution. He ticks all three boxes--he's never been conservative, polite, nor afraid to screw up until he can't hear anything but the great sucking sound representing his choices and actions. He is masterfully able to cut through red tape because he has no way of knowing of what the consequences might be, nor any concept of whether they might be "bad".
If "the problem" is that leadership has been predictable and ineffective also because they are likely to be true to their core values instead of choosing at random in spite of them...
Then DJT is, without doubt, a solution. He knows what "core" means, and "value", but as a phrase, the two words are completely alien to him. He does not have positons or opinions, merely decisions that exist in the moment. He is masterfully impossible to predict and outmaneuver, because to do so his movements would have to be non-random. How could an adversary even *cope* with that level of guile?
There is *no question* that DJT is the ultimate master player.
There's a lot of question over whether he will be able to destroy the world as we know it through staggeringly unheard-of levels of ineptitude. But no question whether he's the master player.
(Score: 2) by crafoo on Monday May 14 2018, @01:52AM (3 children)
Oh come on. All previous leaders have been more or less better at playing the crowd and puking up what people are comfortable hearing and going to sleep at night. But make no mistake, it's Real Politic all the way.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by requerdanos on Monday May 14 2018, @03:15AM
If DJT had this ability--I acknowledge that he doesn't and isn't likely to acquire it--he would still sleep restfully and soundly, untroubled by complicated thoughts of conscience.
Requires sustained thought over a nontrivial period of time, you see. Can't fret over something you don't remember!
He just absolutely does not have the weaknesses that skilled or principled leaders would have. The guy's practically unstoppable.
(Score: 3, Funny) by SanityCheck on Monday May 14 2018, @06:06PM (1 child)
I think a lot of the previous leaders came to a problem knowing what the solution ought to be. So they were never willing to listen to people who are working under them in those fields. Those people got tired and disillusioned with these types of clowns, and just stopped giving their own advice, knowing it would be ignored. Trump is the exact opposite, he comes to a situation he has no idea about the landscape nor any inkling of a solution, he only says he will work on it and get something done. He will listen, he will judge, and he will delegate because he does not bother coming up with his own solution. He is smart enough to decide who is effective either outright or through test. He will cleave the ineffective people from the controls at a whim, and after few rounds of this type of blood-letting you will begin to see results.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by aristarchus on Monday May 14 2018, @11:57PM
Um, there is a case to be made for involuntary username modification, instead of mere comment modding. In this case, could we change SanityCheck to InsanityCheck?
Exampla Gratia: Trump cleaveth Michael Flynn, and replaces him with the more more insane John Bolton. Insanity? Check! Results? We've gone to Jared.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday May 15 2018, @06:02AM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves