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by incrudible 165 days ago
You have to do a lot of mental gymnastics to contend that Zelensky is not the democratically legitimated head of state of Ukraine. For Maduro, it's much simpler: He lost the election, yet he remained in power.
3 comments

Bookmark this comment because it’s going to be very relevant in a few years.
Ok, now who can do the toppling? What if China had done this?
I wonder if this emboldens china to do the same to Taiwan..
China gets Taiwan without any US intervention as soon as our chip foundries have been built state side. Xi is patient.
TSMC already came online in Arizona.
TSMC running stateside != "nevermind Taiwanese independence"/"US withdrawing military protection for Taiwan"

For starters, TSMC has opened facilities in Az, but these are still owned and operated from Taiwan and rely significantly on Taiwanese capability for substantial inputs to the development process in both knowledge and operational capacity.

The new wafer capacity is not a replacement for Taiwan based infrastructure, but rather an extension of those operations.

And to be blunt: If amerika were to immediately about-face on 1975's "back-to-basics" math movement and resume math theory based primary education in order to develop the foundational comprehension necessary for the materials science at|in the design level workforce, it would still be at least one generation before homegrown capacity was 'on-par' with the current Taiwanese (and Dutch) resources.

TLDR; not a concern from a rational leadership condition.

However, pretending that one TSMC plant in Az is sufficient reason to TACO and post on social media in saggy golf pants == very much a potential outcome; regardless of the absolute immediate cost in lives and material capability, and the unavoidable long term consequences both within the US and around the world caused by said capricious behaviour.

I really didn't mean to imply that one TSMC plant in AZ could replace Taiwan, nor that we should only care about semiconductor wafer output or worse to discount the desires of the Taiwanese people. Presumably, at least some large fraction of them wish to remain independent from China.

From a US strategic perspective, there are a lot of other things made in Taiwan other than just semiconductors. They make a lot of machine tools, for example, and tend to have better quality than what we can get imported from China directly. The castings are likely made in China mainland but then finished in Taiwan. You can get nearly identical machines from either source but the Taiwan-made version is generally superior.

Done what, exactly? Abduct Maduro?
Yes, for example, or forcefully remove the leader of the country of your choice.
If they had removed Maduro because he's an illegitmate autocrat funneling drugs into the US, I'd be deeply confused, considering he's on their side.
Hmm, you don't see a simple connection, where China is the counterparty in this power struggle?
Zelensky has suspended elections since Russia invaded. He hasn't had a chance to be voted out, and probably will never get one.
The Ukrainian Constitution suspends elections in a State of Emergency. The State of Emergency is renewed regularly by the Ukrainian Parliament. The Ukrainian people are broadly supportive of Zelensky, who is publically open to holding elections if given the space and resources to do so. Which is a ceasefire, and some time and money.