Source: The American Conservative.
U.S. geopolitical power isn’t what it used to be. As the ascendant nation in the aftermath of WW II, we could work our will on global adversaries by isolating them from the international commerce our enormous economy allowed. The writer suggests this is no longer true.
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I am not convinced this is a bad thing.
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Me neither. To the extent the U.S. promoted “free market values” around the world since WW II, it is probably a good thing that “our children” have grown up and begun to care for themselves, so to speak.
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Well one thing is for sure, China and the Republic of Congo can sure isolate us as the EV agenda moves forward since they own the vast majority of the critical minerals needed to make the batteries. China can invade Taiwan and dare us to do anything while they cut off the supply of those minerals bringing us to our knees.
As far as us isolating Russia, I don’t think Biden is capable of leading a horse to water much less a unified front against Russian exports.
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I think we have plenty of rare earth elements within our borders.
The problem is not location, but supply chain, labor costs and environmental concerns. Rare earth elements are actually pretty abundant, just hard to extract. China has been gobbling up the market over decades by dumping cheap minerals and effectively securing a near monopoly.
We can get back our dominance over time, but it will take money and effort. This is one of the areas the infrastructure bill would help address.
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https://www.science.org/content/article/seawater-could-provide-nearly-unlimited-amounts-critical-battery-material#:~:text=The%20world's%20oceans%20contain%20an,selectively%20extract%20lithium%20from%20seawater.
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With my limited knowledge and observations, so many alternatives to fossil fuels just need time to reach the “economy of scale”. That is a huge advantage for fossil fuels both for extraction, refine and distribution. For now.
In addition, of course, is the constant hum of advances in the science of energy. Not all effective, useful or practical to be sure. But advances have been steady over the decades.
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Not buying that this would make any significant difference. Then comes the unexpected catastophic ecological damage that always rears its ugly head that greenies warn of. It’s best to search for more sustainable solutions that dont cause the entire US to suffer rolling blackouts like California.
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And isolate us from silicon chips. Another dumb move by USA.
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Yet the current administration has made it a priority to change that narrative.
But rolls can’t read real reports or proposals written by the WH for Congress to consider, so there is no way YOU could know that.
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You misspelled TEXAS, Mr. Smith.
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“Not buying that this would make any significant difference.”
The same kind of things were said about cars with combustion engines about 100 or so years ago. It seems to me you have a hard time with the idea of evolution in engineering and scientific breakthroughs.
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