What factors led to the division of Germany and Berlin at the end of World War II?
The allies (the U.S., France, Britain and Russia) divided Germany into 4 zones controlled by each country. The 3 western allies all ran their half in a manner that we would describe as "normal," but the Russians made their half communist and prevented any emigration. In short, I would say tensions and differing opinion of how to govern best led to the division of Germany.
If Huawei and other Chinese companies are not doing illegal, cheating deeds, why are so many countries banning their products/services or raising concerns about them?
A2A. All of the countries which banning Huawei’s 5G equipment are US 1st Tier allies. I assume that because US put pressure or offer incentives for their allies to ban Huawei, as part of US’s effort to slow China’s technology development. And my reasoning are the following:US and most of US allies are democratic countries and take pride of their rule of law. One of the very fundamental concepts of rule of law is the presumption of innocence. That is, the economic activity should stay free, open, and fair, as long as there is no court reaching a guilty verdict.So far, there has been ZERO case where a single court determined that Huawei was guilty of putting spying backdoor in their telecom equipment. As a result, I view that the whole Huawei ban things are nothing more than political drama.Sure, some people would say Huawei has certain issues with intellectual property (IP). However, you should know that 1) these countries ban Huawei for cyber securities concerns, not IP, 2) it’s very normal for tech companies to have IP disputes, just look at how much IP right disputes between Samsung, Apple, Qualcomm, Google, and etc, 3) While Huawei has some IP disputes with US companies, Huawei is one of the largest buyers of US tech products; in a comprehensive perspective, Huawei has a win-win relationship with US tech firms.Sure, some people would say Huawei is a SUSPECT of violating Iran sanction. However, you should know that 1) Huawei is just a suspect, and should be treated as innocent until proven guilty, 2) this is US domestic law, as Iran deal was ratified by UN and all the non-US countries in the world; other countries should not use US domestic law to punish foreign companies to begin with, 3) again, even if Huawei violates Iran sanction, it has nothing to do with cyber securities of its 5G equipment.Personally, I am quite disappointed by many of the so-called democratic countries. They have been consistently talking about how independent and just of their judiciary systems are, and yet in practice it is still political.
Is the United States the only country to spy on other countries by using planes and ships close to their shores?
Noooooooo not by a long shot.But the whole point of spying is stealth.Since the US does it so much more [and more aggressively] than other countries, its obviously more likely that it will get caught doing so the most often.But [as two obvious examples] Russia and China also do the same thing. Both have nearby territories they wish to claim as part of their own country, you can bet they are spying on them close to home using planes and ships.And its not just “the big military 3”.Multiple other countries do the same thing.But again- stealth. Meaning countries are not going to exactly be out there showing off how awesome their spy game is. The whole point is to not be obvious or get caught or let the public know about it.
Should the United States conduct economic espionage against China in retaliation for the vast campaign of technology and intellectual property theft conducted by the Chinese government against the US?
I agree with Edward, Xi Chen and Edward etc.Surely everyone knows about Snowden and wikileaks.US has the largest best funded of espionage agencies since WW2 (Edward - CIA, DIA, 25AF, FBI, INR, MCIA, MI, NGA, NRO, NSA, OICI, ONSI, ONI, TFI, TSI, USDE).Econ espionage? No one can do it better than USA. No one comes close. They even have backdoors on most US gears. Remember CISCO? US excels at that for a very long time. US even hack and spy on all their allies, whether Germans or Australians.China?Targeting Huawei: NSA Spied on Chinese Government and Networking Firm - SPIEGEL ONLINE - InternationalReport: NSA Spied on Chinese Telecoms GiantWe would all be fools to think US has not tried all they can against China given its fixation on the rise and technological challenge of China for such a long time. (also partly explains the paranoia China has on American softwares, web and IT, and hence the restrictions).>"We currently have good access and so much data that we don't know what to do with it," states one internal (NSA) document.So why is US even complaining of China (and Russia, etc)?> According to documents viewed by SPIEGEL, America'a NSA intelligence agency put considerable efforts into spying on Chinese politicians and firms. One major target was Huawei, a company that is fast becoming a major Internet player.Continuous conditioning the Public. Because they used this and all other accusations to denigrate China for its own policies and use MSM to spin the public as and when useful. And many average Americans actually agree with USA govt and media - Russians, Chinese, Iranians hack, steal and spy. They even sabotage elections and influence who they elect. And those accusations stick. Convenient.
Why doesn't the U.S. government attack North Korea and make it the 51st state?
I have a proposal about North Korea. (DPRK) since that stalinist state is really a useless country ruled by a walking pig who starves the citizens to death, regardless of whether or not North Korea has nukes it would be reasonable to bombard the place with bombs and destroy it so that it will never threaten or attack anyone. 1. What about attacking Pyongyang, killing the government bastards and setting up a government loyal to the United States? North Korea's land can become the 51st state with its own capital, own law and so on. 2. This would be a great advantage to the U.S. since the 51st state is very close to South Korea and Japan, our allies. 3. The 51st state is borders China so the U.S. has direct contact with the Chinese government, enabling the federal government to spy on China. I think, if this actually happened it would be great for America. So, what do you think?
What do you think about the heavy spying of the European countries made by the NSA?
It reminds people that:We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow.- PalmerstonAs such, naive people who thought America was a friend, "we expected better" or believed America's pious statements criticizing China etc have been disabused There certainly were lots of people who believed those better things of USA..That is why there is so much anger in Germany (who remember the Stasi and are dismayed that USA behaves just the same as the East German secret police), France, Mexico, Brazil etc.Those people who now discover that USA has no qualms about eavesdropping on the calls of the President of France, or committing industrial espionage are now feeling like mugs for ever believing that America might actually work to those higher moral standards it espoused in public.Americans who thought there was a relationship with Europe are likely to be surprised that now Europe realises "interests" outweigh friendship (as proved by spying on friends).America's "soft power" has been severely damaged.China and other countries will do well. After all, they have had electronic spying for years: in the past America said this was a bad thing, but it is now clear that not only was China right, but America's statements were cynical misdirection. No-one trusted China before, but a healthy reminder that you should not trust anyone will be helpful to them.That applies in both politics and in trade.All those telcos who avoided buying (very good, very cheap) Huawei gear because "they might have backdoors" and bought from Cisco or Alcatel Lucent instead will realise that they all have back doors and you can't trust anyone, even your allies.Here is a link to some of the German commentary on this.German papers lay into Obama over US spying claimsJudith Meyer has an important translation of the Die Zeit article here: German-American Friendship by Judith Meyer on Understanding Germany Very worth reading for the German perspective on this.A sobering example of the destruction of soft power.