U.S. won't partner with countries that use Huawei systems: Pompeo

[Swordsmyth]

Japan/Panasonic now lick the hegemon boot.... and Brit ARM (blueprint service for chip design)

https://twitter.com/AFP/status/1131468349622218752

Liking the ChiCom boot is the other option, it's not the better option.

[goldenequity]

Liking the ChiCom boot is the other option, it's not the better option.

at this point it's really hard to say as I loathe all 'boots'. all boots. die. die. die. spit. i feel better now. ha.
from a dispassionate pov here's what intrigues me:
We can watch it evolve or 'crash' as a fascinating metric or gauge ... an empirical measurement,
It will be the masses expressing themselves (or not.)
It will be a linear construct between apathy at one end and rage at the other.
here's what I see it measuring:

"I'm tempted to buy a Huawei just as a ""F- You" to the West."

There's a LOT of 'unexpressed' and pent up loathing and rage out there....
might be the greatest marketing opportunity since disposable razors.

==========

Huawei will use its own phone chips amid report UK design firm ARM has cut business ties, says analyst
http://po.st/aPMtGZ via @staronline
https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/a...esign-firm-arm

[Swordsmyth]

With all of the pressure on Huawei, Beijing is again resorting to threats to try and preserve Huawei's business. The UK reviews its telecoms policy to determine whether Huawei will be allowed to supply 'non-core' 5G components, like antenna masts, Beijing would like UK bureaucrats to know that there will be consequences if they shun Huawei.
Top Chinese diplomat Chen Wen, the Charge D'affairs in London, told the BBC that China would scale back its investments in the UK if Huawei is excluded from its 5G network, according to the BBC.
Though she kept her comments vague, Wen told the BBC that the backlash would be "quite substantial." This at a time when Brexit-related uncertainty is already complicating decisions relating to capex and FDI.

Speaking to the BBC's World at One programme, Ms Chen, who is the Chinese Charge D'affairs in London, said the UK economy would be damaged by the message any ban on Huawei sent out to international and Chinese companies.
"The message is not going to be very positive," she said.
"Is UK still open? Is UK still extending a welcoming arm to other Chinese investors?"
When asked how large the repercussions would be, the embassy official said: "It's hard to predict at the moment, but I think it's going to be quite substantial."

Chen added that the Chinese government would never ask a domestic company to spy on its customers, before accusing President Trump of stoking ''hysteria".

Ms Chen insisted that her government would never force a Chinese firm operating abroad to provide information to its intelligence agencies.
She went on to claim that there was a bit of "hysteria" in the United States about the rise of Chinese influence and the UK should make decisions based on its own national interest.
She called Huawei's investment in the UK "a vote of confidence in the UK economy."

As convincing as Beijing's "no spying" pledge might sound, the notion that Huawei won't spy on its customers isn't just specious - it's demonstrably false. Who can forget the suspicious 'back doors' discovered in Huawei's networking equipment, or the suspicious 'back doors' discovered in its consumer-tech products.
With this in mind, it looks like the UK is facing a choice: Either grant Beijing ingress to its communications networks, or risk losing that China money.
Whatever they decide, the world will be watching closely to see if this is the start of a trend of European countries finally coming around to Washington's line on Huawei.

More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-...your-own-peril

[goldenequity]

It's thug wars pure and simple... one thug (group) promising 'protection' from the other thugs. wat a werld.

https://twitter.com/snarwani/status/1131673311321174016

[Swordsmyth]

It's thug wars pure and simple... one thug (group) promising 'protection' from the other thugs. wat a werld.

https://twitter.com/snarwani/status/1131673311321174016

This belongs here:

[goldenequity]

I'd like to dedicate this post to the people who literally died for opening our eyes to the thugs and their lies:

https://twitter.com/walid970721/stat...99174095515648

https://twitter.com/Occupy007/status...86241496256513

I remember her. her reporting. on McCain/Turkey/ISIS. and her murder. in Turkey. RIP.
AND
congrats to the Sharminator for receiving the award.

[Swordsmyth]

I'd like to dedicate this post to the people who literally died for opening our eyes to the thugs and their lies:

https://twitter.com/walid970721/stat...99174095515648

https://twitter.com/Occupy007/status...86241496256513

I remember her. her reporting. on McCain/Turkey/ISIS. and her murder. in Turkey. RIP.
AND
congrats to the Sharminator for receiving the award.

Wouldn't this be better in the Syria thread?
Or the Thug World Thread?

[goldenequity]

Wouldn't this be better in the Syria thread?
Or the Thug World Thread?

depends... on which brain hemisphere yer deploying/employing...
I can't always talk about 'them' like it's some kind of game.
I get angry. I get sad. I think I'll leave it here for now.
this thread is not about phones. can U hear me now??
you're up late....

[goldenequity]

Fuuk the thugs! Let's humanize this thread

https://twitter.com/ChinaDaily/statu...96310128664582

[timosman]

Fuuk the thugs! Let's humanize this thread

[goldenequity]

[goldenequity]

AI functions on 5G... many many surprises ahead. (hologram devices) buckle up.

Using only 1 picture... they can make a video of @Danke french kissing Nancy Pelosi.

https://twitter.com/page_eco/status/1131516645824794624

[goldenequity]

Huawei's top phone assembler suspends part of production at China plant
https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Hu...at-China-plant

GUANGZHOU/TAIPEI -- Huawei Technologies' biggest smartphone assembler has halted at least part of its production for the world's second-largest handset maker, two sources told the Nikkei Asian Review, following the U.S. blacklisting of the Chinese company.

Singapore-based Flex, which has its operational headquarters in Silicon Valley and is listed on Nasdaq, told employees on Thursday that it needed to suspend manufacturing for Huawei.

"We got notices from the company that the production lines for Huawei smartphones and other devices need to be stopped to wait for further notice on May 23," one Flex employee told Nikkei outside the company's main factory in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai.

"The company cited the trade war as the reason for the suspension," the employee said. "We are not sure when the production work will resume."

[Swordsmyth]

An old acquaintance (the CIO of a $800 million macro fund) rang me up last week to chew the fat on the Huawei deal and the ramifications.
And so — since I'm a lazy bastard — I figured I'd use the meat of the conversation for this article.
You're probably aware of the bans the US government has now placed on dealing with Huawei. Specifically prohibiting American firms from selling them (and others on the blacklist) high tech products.
The ramifications are endless. Literally. But first...
What Preceded It?

Ever since the Cold War, the US and its allies have jointly being poking around spying on their (and literally anyone's) lives.
The system used?
Echelon, which was codename for the network of satellites, server farms, software backdoors negotiated with "friendly" tech companies, and goodness knows what else.
Eventually this data collection and spying network swallowed the usual suspects, today fondly referenced as "the Five Eyes Intelligence Alliance". The Canucks, the Brits, the Ozzies, and the Kiwis.
If you remember the Ed Snowden affair and the NSA, you'll recall that the world got a peek into this surveillance network that is spearheaded by the Americans.
In any event, the days of spies being cold eyed killers in trench coats passing paper bags to dodgy looking men in the park at midnight are long gone.
Rather, today they're more likely to be 20-something geeks sporting acne, Coke bottle spectacles, and glued to screens, punching away excitedly at keyboards talking in a lingo no normal person would understand.
The reason for spying in the first place is because wars are often won by preventing your opponents from conducting attacks against you. Forewarned is forearmed, as the saying goes.
In the modern world we've governments with the technology capable of knocking out power grids, transportation systems, and communication systems (or gas pipelines).

From December 2011 through June 2012, cyber spies targeted 23 gas pipeline companies with e-mails crafted to deceive key personnel into clicking on malicious links or file attachments that let the attackers slip into company networks, says the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report.
The report does not mention China, but the digital signatures of the attacks have been identified by independent cybersecurity researchers as belonging to a particular espionage group recently linked to China’s military.

Or — as the US Government found out in 2015 — the classic espionage route, too, can be exploited, revealing the underbelly ripe for a good kicking.
From the New York Times:

Attack Gave Chinese Hackers Privileged Access to U.S. Systems
For more than five years, American intelligence agencies followed several groups of Chinese hackers who were systematically draining information from defense contractors, energy firms and electronics makers, their targets shifting to fit Beijing’s latest economic priorities.
But last summer, officials lost the trail as some of the hackers changed focus again, burrowing deep into United States government computer systems that contain vast troves of personnel data, according to American officials briefed on a federal investigation into the attack and private security experts.
Undetected for nearly a year, the Chinese intruders executed a sophisticated attack that gave them “administrator privileges” into the computer networks at the Office of Personnel Management, mimicking the credentials of people who run the agency’s systems, two senior administration officials said. The hackers began siphoning out a rush of data after constructing what amounted to an electronic pipeline that led back to China, investigators told Congress last week in classified briefings.

The above simply highlights the new battleground, which I'm sure you already knew existed.
What Huawei brings to the table is that it was and is China's weapon or answer to Echelon.
The Chinese don't have the global alliance partners (yet) to put together something rivaling Echelon.
Instead, their tactic is one of owning the exchange points in the communications systems and then having the ability to capture information flowing through those exchanges. Huawei have over the last decade made a massive push towards fiber optic cables, telecom towers, and of course the routers, phones and computers connected to the internet.
Gaining Market Share

When you look at Huawei's strategy of bidding on massive international projects for the installation and maintenance of these systems, you have to scratch your head.
The economics rarely make sense when looked at purely from a business sense.
That's because these guys aren't doing this purely from a business sense. They're doing this from a geopolitical and national interest standpoint. And Huawei, unlike their non-Chinese competitors, enjoy the backing of the CCP, who are subsidising the hell out of these bids.
What's fascinating is that it's been working, even though surely to the West's intelligence agencies this strategy must have been as transparent as air.
Still, what are the West's options?
Subsidise Western competing firms and thereby destroy the capitalist market mechanism and arguably the very democratic structure of government? The backlash wouldn't be easy to manage, and once down that path, where does it lead to?
I'm sure the intelligence services all get it that Huawei's "corporate strategy" is simply China's intelligence services strategy.
But Joe Sixpack on the street probably doesn't appreciate this. Instead, he thinks Huawei is just like Apple, Cisco, or Nvidia... only Chinese. Clearly, that's as wrong as a Grandma's moustache.
What this means in practical terms is this: Huawei is intimately intertwined with the CCP.

China's Achilles Heel

Huawei, or should I say China, isn't technologically self sufficient.
They're heavily reliant on Western technology and American technology in particular to build their products.
Frankly, I've been gobsmacked that the US didn't put a nail in this coffin years ago. Think about it...
The CCP is trying to monitor global communications, which is fine and expected (every state player wants this, whether they admit to it or not). But they expect the rest of the world to pay them to do so and willingly provide the enabling technology for it to all happen.
It always seemed to me like a really dumb idea, simply because it is so transparent (a simple look at the economics of Huawei's bids on projects would have told anyone that something was amiss), and the strategy assumes your opponents are morons. Trouble is, thus far that seems to have have been the case.
Which brings us to the 5G rollout that Huawei have been pushing with the gusto of a fat kid after the last cupcake.
The implementation of Huawei's running 5G networks in foreign nations would provide the Chinese with incredible capabilities.
Imagine owning the underlying infrastructure on which all transportation, communication, energy infrastructure, and business systems are run on. Imagine not only the data collection available... but the ability to turn those systems on and off at will.

Ring, ring.
Italy: Hello, this is Italy here.
China: Yes, just a quick call out of courtesy. We'll be stationing a military submarine in Genova from next week.
Italy: The hell you will! ([covering mouthpiece] "Hey Luigi, these damn Chinese want to put a f*cking sub in our port")
China: You do want your electricity to keep working, don't you?

Unsavoury? Sure but realise that nationalism, patriotism and dare I say it tribal instincts are making a comeback. Ignore it at your own peril.
We're all familiar with Russia's ability to turn off the gas to Europe and how that provides them leverage, but few seem to think of the technology aspect of what 5G networks mean on a geopolitical scale.
And so here we are as the Americans finally seem to have seen what was in front of them for so long and they've now sent a very blunt message to the Chinese: "Hell, no! Enough is enough, folks!"
Huawei bonds immediately got torched.

And the Laowai have since been dumping Chinese stocks with vigor.

What Comes Next?

I wrote some time back about the coming "resource nationalism", and I believe we're on the very cusp of this becoming a major issue... and not just with respect to China.
As political cohesion continues to disintegrate, the necessity for critical supply of resources will come front and centre... and part of that will mean they will be increasingly used as economic weapons.
In war you win by identifying your opponent's weaknesses. And so, I present to you China's reliance on energy.

China knows this.
It's why nuclear power is going to simply become an ever bigger component for them. Watch!
What Does America Have Going for It?


Well, the US can certainly do some major economic damage to China.
And China doesn't want unruly masses who are unhappy because they can no longer feed themselves.

More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-05-25/huawei-hell

[goldenequity]

Huawei 'back door' boogieman argument is flawed...
it's NOT about 'security'. YOU HAVE NONE. Clear? I hope so.

sum current cyber 'news'...

https://thecyberwire.com/issues/issu...019_05_14.html

"BleepingComputer writes that Symantec, McAfee, and Trend Micro were among the security firms allegedly breached by the Fxmsp hackers. Trend Micro said data from a test lab had been accessed by unauthorized parties, but that no source code or customer information were compromised. Symantec denied being affected at all, and McAfee says it's investigating. BleepingComputer identified the companies from unredacted Fxmsp chat logs it received from Advanced Intelligence researchers. There's no word yet about a rumored fourth victim."

But German RT yesterday says they are:

https://deutsch.rt.com/meinung/88319...odes-bedrohen/

"The source codes of three American antivirus manufacturers were cracked. Those who have the money can obtain the codes - including organized crime. Another aspect is more dramatic: almost all critical infrastructures in the West are now vulnerable."

Anyone heard about it elsewhere?

"Digital Armageddon: Cracked source codes threaten critical infrastructure
The source codes of three American antivirus manufacturers were cracked. Those who have the money can obtain the codes - including organized crime. Another aspect is more dramatic: almost all critical infrastructures in the West are now vulnerable."

Here's the source in English:

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/new...s-avs-respond/


First time I hear about this. But surely the affected companies won't happily announce that their products were compromised. Especially as it seems to be related to their products.

Recently new flaws in Intel processors were discovered. Allegedly they are even more dangerous than previously discovered ones (ie. Spectre)...

New secret-spilling flaw affects almost every Intel chip since 2011

https://techcrunch.com/2019/05/14/zo...el-processors/

Yeah... (jus like Baltimore found out)... it's not China they have to pay 'ransom' to. (lol..)
once you get past the 'security boogieman' argument... it's just another form of neocon interventionism wrapped in a flag. again. rinse/repeat.

BLOWBACK
Russian Market
@russian_market
Boom... Now FT reports too

China suggests using rare earths in US trade war
http://on.ft.com/2I4RTOH

Russian Market
@russian_market
...and German Handelsblatt as well

China using rare earths in US trade war
http://on.ft.com/2I4RTOH

[Swordsmyth]

Yeah... (jus like Baltimore found out)... it's not China they have to pay 'ransom' to. (lol..)
once you get past the 'security boogieman'... it's just another form of neocon interventionism wrapped in a flag. again. rinse/repeat.

BLOWBACK
Russian Market
@russian_market
Boom... Now FT reports too

China suggests using rare earths in US trade war
http://on.ft.com/2I4RTOH

Russian Market
@russian_market
...and German Handelsblatt as well

China using rare earths in US trade war
http://on.ft.com/2I4RTOH

The ChiComs are a threat and allowing them to spy on us is not an improvement.

Rare Earths are not that rare.

[goldenequity]

The ChiComs are a threat and allowing them to spy on us is not an improvement.
You could and can just as easily use the term 'competitor' and treat them as such. Fine w/ me.
You (any government) has to protect their infrastructure from ALL/ANY criminal/foreign hacks. (Israel/NSA included lol)
Blackmailing Huawei doesn't change that.
It's a faux argument.

Rare Earths are not that rare.
Guess Apple and Tesla might find out.

We will watch it unravel.
Here's an archived link http://archive.is/h0T4b

[goldenequity]

from the article (above)

China currently exports very few rare earths directly to the US. Intermediate products containing rare earths metals go through a long production chain, mostly in China and Japan. Washington has identified the exports as a vulnerability and exempted the material from its tarriffs.
Rare earths capture the attention of security strategists but in practice would be difficult to wield as a weapon. China first imposed export quotas on rare earths more than a decade ago, but dropped the quotas in 2015 after losing a case at the World Trade Organization.

It is not clear how it would regulate trade in intermediate or downstream products. The problem for China is that any new restrictions would cause damage to its recently developed industrial supply chains, which are dependent on foreign customers in the US, Europe and Japan.
Any restriction would reinforce the notion that China was a risky source of supply.
Three state-owned mining firms have wrestled for control over the rich deposits around Ganzhou, in south-central China. Companies mining or processing rare earths in Ganzhou recorded RMB26bn in revenue in 2018, according to the NDRC.
($3.8B)

meh.... not much of an economic weapon.
looks like it'll have to be 'a thousand paper cuts'. hahaha.

[goldenequity]

https://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/aapl/real-time



**note to self
check back in a month.

[goldenequity]

Exclusive: Huawei reviewing FedEx relationship, says packages 'diverted'
https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-hu...-idUKKCN1SX1RZ

[Swordsmyth]

from the article (above)

meh.... not much of an economic weapon.
looks like it'll have to be 'a thousand paper cuts'. hahaha.

Japan finds a massive deposit of rare earth minerals

[goldenequity]

Technological Sovereignty




=======

https://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/aapl/real-time



**note to self
check back in a month.

[Swordsmyth]

Technological Sovereignty

Yes, we need it just as much as any other country and letting the ChiComs into our systems would undermine it.

[Swordsmyth]

U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo reiterated a threat to withhold information from allies if it is transmitted across networks America considers untrustworthy and there is a danger sensitive data will end up in Chinese hands.Speaking in Berlin Friday, Pompeo urged Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government to “lead in taking action against Chinese corruption, espionage and unfair trade practices” and said the U.S. may have to change its “behavior” regarding intelligence sharing.
China is a “national security risk” to western democracies and the challenge is far wider than the threat posed by the use in communications networks of equipment made by Huawei Technologies Co., Pompeo said at a news conference after talks with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas. He later had a 45-minute meeting with Merkel at the chancellery.
“We want to make sure the information doesn’t end up in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party, it’s pretty straightforward,” Pompeo said. “We can’t permit private citizen data from the United States or national security data from the United States to go across networks that we don’t have confidence in.”

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/pompeo-tells-...122559400.html

[timosman]

U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo reiterated a threat to withhold information from allies if it is transmitted across networks America considers untrustworthy and there is a danger sensitive data will end up in Chinese hands.Speaking in Berlin Friday, Pompeo urged Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government to “lead in taking action against Chinese corruption, espionage and unfair trade practices” and said the U.S. may have to change its “behavior” regarding intelligence sharing.
China is a “national security risk” to western democracies and the challenge is far wider than the threat posed by the use in communications networks of equipment made by Huawei Technologies Co., Pompeo said at a news conference after talks with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas. He later had a 45-minute meeting with Merkel at the chancellery.
“We want to make sure the information doesn’t end up in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party, it’s pretty straightforward,” Pompeo said. “We can’t permit private citizen data from the United States or national security data from the United States to go across networks that we don’t have confidence in.”

Whoa! What happened to encryption?

[Swordsmyth]

Whoa! What happened to encryption?

It's not as strong as they want you to believe.

[timosman]

It's not as strong as they want you to believe.

Why do they want backdoors to encryption then?

[Swordsmyth]

Why do they want backdoors to encryption then?

They are lazy.
Also decrypting each packet faster allows them to decrypt more packets.

[Swordsmyth]

Decryption is getting easier all the time.

Remember this?

Mathematicians Just Discovered an 'Astonishing' New Way to Multiply Large Numbers

[nikcers]

Why do they want backdoors to encryption then?

It makes them use precious bit coin mining power to get through our encryption when they could be doing far more profitable things with it. If encryption tech couldn't be cracked they wouldn't be able to shut down things like the silk road.