China watch.

I spent a decade working with bonafide blackfellas in the central deserts. Had a lot of fun doing so and learnt plenty.
China they wouldn't care about. They survived european colonisation and they'll survive Asian colonisation as well.

As for the hundreds of thousands of white Aboriginies ... they'll pretty quick forget all about their trace elements.

I'm sure it's a pure coincidence that so many people discovered their 'trace elements' at the same time as the government started its modern form of insitutionalised racism, giving preferable employment, education and welfare outcomes to those of the correct race.

So the questions is; is China's COVID "lock-downs" real or a cover for targeted attack on the West's economies to weaken us? If SouthernPrepper1's (Posted by Spatial in the Falling stock market thread if you don't know who he is) unconfirmed reports are correct, then is it the start of something bigger by the CCP? I find it sus that all the "lock-downs" are in the biggest industrial areas of China.

SP1's reports confirm that it's not just Walmart crap that's stopped coming into the US. Electronic components, Printed Circuit Boards, base material working...all of that sort of stuff has blown out in price or delivery time.

Also why I have a bit of an interest in bush "lore",but no interest in drink at all. Not a teetotaler, but only a very occasional drink.




You know you own an old tractor when.....Your husband looks at you strangely when you ask if he wants to go with you to the tractor boneyard o the weekend.

The US couldn't beat Vietnam, Russia can't beat Ukraine, neither the US or Russia could beat the stone age goat herders in Afghanistan, I think from memory Vietnam gave China a bloody nose once.

These 'super powers' don't impress me much.

With the immanent collapse of the US dollar, I think the center of the worlds economic power will shift to the China area.

So start learning to speak and read Chinese.

Also, they need food, water and space for their people, and Australia has lots of what they see as empty space. Mostly unprotected, due to the previous Governments gun policy's.




You know you own an old tractor when.....You have a 2 acre garden area under cultivation.

The PRC will certainly become the dominant power in asia, but (unpopular opinion) not the world power. There are quite a few reasons for this.

Population: China has the same ageing population profile now that Japan did 30 years ago. Up until that time, Japan was riding a decades long boom and many expected them to become the world's dominant economy. It didn't happen. Since that time, Japan has suffered constant deflation. Just like the PRC, once you get outside the cities it's a mess. Run down and abandoned towns all over the place. Infrastructure shutting down due to lack of demand. There is no plausible way for Japan to turn this around in the forseeable future. The PRC is on the same path. The notable difference is that the PRC is going to get old before it gets rich.

Foreign Relations: Most of the western world has woken up to the PRC. They have zero allies other than those they can temporarily buy off until the next election. They have a LOT of enemies. You can bet that if the PRC tries to invade Taiwan, gets bogged down and forced to overcommit, the countries that the PRC has taken territory from will sieze the opportunity to take it back. Nobody wins a war against multiple enemies with no allies. The PRC has been doing well in the third world, but so will anyone willing to give a local government what they want. Many poor nations are also realising the PRC's 'debt trap' strategy and avoiding it.
Bear in mind also, that the PRC's military hasn't fought a serious conflict since the 1970s when Vietnam absolutely thumped them. It wasn't the "we can't end this with a win so we will give up and leave" of the US, the PRC was well and truly beaten by the swedish and quickly booted out. The PRC may be acting like a bully, but it doesn't know how to fight.

Economy: The PRC has the world's most overheated housing market. An apartment costs $2-300k in a country where the 'owners' are on $10k a year. So it's all on debt that can never be repaid. It's got collapse written all over it.

Resources: The PRC just doesn't have them. A war with Taiwan (or anyone else) would cut them off from everyone except Russia. And who knows if Poutine will still be in charge at that time.

Exports: The kind of sanctions that the west has on Russia now would be absolutely catastrophic for the PRC. Russia will be hurt, but ultimately survive sanctions, as it sells mainly resources and there's always a dirty buyer. The PRC sells the overwhelming majority of its exports to the west. They'd be crippled by any serious sanctions. Their economy has been based on cheap labour, which is now drying up due to the 1 child policy. So that's gone. The world is also gradually wisening up to the the CCP's rampant intellectual property theft. The issue with IP theft is that it's great for getting yourself out of last place, but it cannot make you the leader.

Business: Anyone with money is trying to get out of the PRC. It's gotten so bad that the CCP has for several years not been trying to block funds from being sent offshore. They have not been able to stop it. The PRC's rich know that they can lose it all in a heartbeat if some CCP official takes a grudge against them. So they all want a foreign passport and offshore assets. This is destroying the CCP's tax base.

So I just do not see it happening. Sure the US has problems, but it's on vastly better terms with its trading partners and doesn't need to beat its citizens into submission (well, not as often anyway). That's not to say that the CCP will not try something stupid to save face. The risk is still there and would be catastrophic for the rest of the world.

Don't forget that China is still classed as a third world country.