From: jeroen@nospam.please   
      
   On 2/6/26 22:22, Joe Gwinn wrote:   
   > On Fri, 6 Feb 2026 17:43:13 +0100, 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   
   >   
   > It's a classic reference, never refuted.   
   >   
   > Here is more background:   
   >   
   > .   
   >   
   >   
   >> 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?   
   >   
   > One reason is to prevent one's own weapons being used against one by   
   > the winner of a revolution who inherited a military.   
   >   
   >   
   >> We'd better buy Saab or Dassault!   
   >   
   > All that does is change who the master shall be.   
   >   
   > Joe   
      
   That last point is true, of course, in the general case,   
   but I intended it to refer to the current rogue. Sweden   
   and France are still reliable allies. The US, not so much.   
      
   Jeroen Belleman   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)