From: bill.sloman@ieee.org
On 7/02/2026 3:43 am, Jeroen Belleman wrote:
> On 2/6/26 15:50, Jeroen Belleman wrote:
>> On 2/6/26 14:21, Bill Sloman wrote:
>>> On 6/02/2026 8:26 pm, Liz Tuddenham wrote:
>>>> Bill Sloman wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> On 6/02/2026 1:52 am, Liz Tuddenham wrote:
>>>>>> Don Y wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I fully expect this to happen during Trump's administration.
>>>>>>> He probably realizes he won't be able to do anything about it,
>>>>>>> especially after his designs on other foreign countries and
>>>>>>> alienation of his main allies.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> ["No, you haven't been ATTACKED by China so Article 5 doesn't
>>>>>>> require us to come to your aid..."]
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Of course, more and more manufacturing is TRYING to be on-shored.
>>>>>>> But, I suspect that is nowhere near enough to address the
>>>>>>> potential of Taiwan going off-line -- even briefly.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I'm thinking back to how screwed up the supply chain got during
>>>>>>> COVID and wonder what manufacturers and investors will do when
>>>>>>> the future is far less certain than a "pandemic".
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Opinions?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> We have sleepwalked into this and the few who have raised the
>>>>>> alarm have
>>>>>> been (and still are being) ignored and ridiculed.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> There is a wider problem: we have become 'travel junkies' and rely
>>>>>> too
>>>>>> much on transport. "I can get it cheaper from..." doesn't take into
>>>>>> account the hidden costs such as liability to supply disruption,
>>>>>> loss of
>>>>>> control over the design and the fundamental need to teach underlying
>>>>>> principles and train people in making things themselves.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> We haven't got the factories.
>>>>>> We haven't got the machines.
>>>>>> We haven't got the people who know how to operste the machines.
>>>>>> We haven't got the machines to make the machines.
>>>>>> We haven't got the people who know how to make the machines
>>>>>> We haven't got the material.
>>>>>> We haven't got the undustry to make the materials.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> In the thrall of Greenwash we have simply exported the 'dirty'
>>>>>> jobs to
>>>>>> other countries and then added to the pollution by shipping the goods
>>>>>> back.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> If Russia could do to the UK what it is doing to Ukraine, the country
>>>>>> would have to surrender within a week.
>>>>>
>>>>> If the UK ignored the fact that it has it's own nuclear weapons and
>>>>> the
>>>>> means to deliver them.
>>>>
>>>> Has it? I thought they were dependent on the U.S. for delivery.
>>>
>>> The ballistic missiles were manufactured in the US, but they do seem
>>> to be under UK control. The proposition that the US engineered in
>>> secret backdoors to let them disable the weapons if they were pointed
>>> at a target that the US hadn't approved is one that every conspiracy
>>> theory nut would bring forward, but UK military security is even
>>> deeper into daft conspiracy theories than internet lunatics.
>>
>> Everything is software-controlled these days. If you thought that
>> thoroughly checking the source code for backdoors will protect you,
>> you should read this:
>> "Reflections on trusting trust", by Ken thompson
>>
>>
>> You'll never trust a compiler again.
>>
>> Jeroen Belleman
>>
>
> Sorry for following up on myself. I just read that text again and
> noticed that Ken refers to some obscure US airforce document
> where he first learned of this trick.
>
> Am I a conspiracy nut for thinking that, if it ever comes to an
> armed conflict with the US, all those F35s they sold us would
> just drop out of the sky?
>
> We'd better buy Saab or Dassault!
The UK did put a certain amount of effort into developing Viper
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VIPER_microprocessor
It does suggest the kind of mind-set that might get picky about mission
critical hardware and software.
--
Bill Sloman, Sydney
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
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