US Tells Germany To Stop Using Huawei Equipment Or Lose Some Intelligence Access (theverge.com) 417
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the United States has told Germany to drop Huawei from its future plans or risk losing access to some U.S. intelligence. The U.S. says the Chinese company's equipment could be used for espionage -- a concern that Huawei says is unfounded. "The Trump administration has been pressing allies to end their relationships with Huawei, but Germany, moving ahead with its plans, has not moved to ban the company from its networks," reports The Verge. From the report: According to the Journal, a letter sent from the U.S. Ambassador to Germany warns the country that the U.S. will stop sharing some secrets if it allows Huawei to work on its next-generation 5G infrastructure. The letter, according to the Journal, argues that network security can't be effectively managed by audits of equipment or software. While the U.S. plans to continue sharing intelligence with Germany regardless, the Journal reports, officials plan to curtail the scope of that information if Huawei equipment is used in German infrastructure.
Recommendations? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Recommendations? (Score:5, Informative)
Ericsson or Nokia would be my guess. Both are major telecom manufacturers with a heavy investment in 5G. Both are European companies.
Why? (Score:5, Insightful)
This looks like a Trump MAGA Tamtrum to protect Cisco, etc, and wage a useless trade ware.
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Why doesn't anyone talk about the NSA's ...
They are. Just like you. But this is not about NSA is it?
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Also, if the US communicates secrets with Germany properly, the way it should be done, using strong end-to-end encryption, the communication infrastructure shouldn't matter. The Chinese or anybody shouldn't be able to snoop in.
Something different to worry about would be kill switches. Something like an automatic software update that shuts down the network or even transmits false and potentially harmful data to damage other systems.
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Germany now has to select a side.
So we are with you or against you. We can not chose our own path?
The free West
There is no "free west", and probably never was the last 70 years.
This is how Germany thanks decades of free US and UK mil support?
What support? Forcing us to station mid range nuke missiles on our ground, to cement the fact that the next's war battle ground will leave nothing left from Germany?
How fucking young are you that you know nothing?
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What about that chip that made the headlines less than a year ago? The one that had supermicro on the defense for quite a bit? Of course you know the NSA spying, but I wouldn’t go as far as to think China is not. We’re talking about the country that thinks it’s their job to pick the next Dalai Lama when it’s not even in their fucking country. The same country that thinks it’s their job to tell the heads of the five major tai chi styles who their next grandmaster heir-appa
Re:Why? (Score:5, Informative)
That story isn't credible, and no-one has produced a photograph of the chip.
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Being wrong about something and admitting to it != fake news. Fake news is when you misrepresenting something fake as news without any attempt to correct it because the intent all along was to present that falsehood as truth. The fact that there were multiple news sources that challenged the story proves that, oddly enough, the system works. In a fake news world, we'd all still believe that those chips were real. In such a world, we wouldn't be so quick to call out the bullshit that is the US government
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It was in every major newspaper.
It was repeated in every major newspaper. The story itself stemmed from one news paper which when repeatedly pressed for more information came up with nothing.
That's not fake news, that's unverified news. Fake news is when the president on the record with evidence does one thing and then claims he didn't moments later.
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im taking it back... tired of people taking good words :-)
we slashdotters started the idea of fake news back when Linus Torvalds had to copyright Linux to keep microsoft from running LinuxJournal posing as linux people explaining why windows was a better option. It was a fake site running fake articles.
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This is why I try to keep my nose out of political stuff here on slashdot. The comment section quickly turns into weapon's grade bullshit polemics and people with mod points only exacerbate it.
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If this was a story about Russia telling Belarus not to buy American network hardware if they wanted full access to military information sharing, then you'd have a point.
But it isn't. So you don't.
This is the basic question presented: Are you a MILITARY ALLY of the United States... or not?
Unlike many world powers, all US allies have that status by choice and consent. You can leave at any time. Byeeeeee.
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Letting Germany not get daily quality US mil/intelligence support.
Its the US tax payers who fund the collection it all by the NSA all over the world.
Thats US mil/cryto product to share with its better friends globally.
Should Germany not want to work with the NSA and fail to keep its communications networks secure, then the USA can move away from so much sharing/trust with Germany.
The BND will have to step up a
Re:Why? (Score:4, Interesting)
It's always perplexing to see Trump Derangement Syndrome posts that both give Trump imaginary infinite power and cunning and call him stupid.
The President is just a figurehead. Obama's NSA spied on Angela Merkle's phone calls and they want to keep doing that. With the CIA's abysmal track record it's hard to imagine the US has anything worth offering that is worth Germany relinquishing its sovereignty.
Why the heck aren't they funding a jobs program to build an open source telephony platform on top of OpenSwitch?
Germany used to be known as the country of first-rate engineering - they ought to leverage their latent genetic advantage. And tell the NSA to pound sand.
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"Trump doesn't even know Cisco exists or what it does."
He doesn't need to know anything about Cisco. If some lobbyist passes him a note to bash Huawei in exchange for 20k bookings per year in his hotels, plus a hefty contribution to his 2020 campaign, I trust he will do it, no questions asked.
It doesn't matter anymore (Score:2)
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Re:It doesn't matter anymore (Score:5, Interesting)
And, of course, you have proof of this?
The NSA project is called Tailored Access Operations: http://www.spiegel.de/internat... [spiegel.de]
Cisco got so pissed about it they went to visit the president to complain: https://www.techdirt.com/artic... [techdirt.com]
Warning of an erosion of confidence in the products of the U.S. technology industry, John Chambers, the CEO of networking giant Cisco Systems, has asked President Obama to intervene to curtail the surveillance activities of the National Security Agency.
Huawei should be Banned in Germany (Score:2, Funny)
China already has the most secure internet (Score:4, Funny)
Of course! (Score:5, Insightful)
Of course we should consider that Huawai may be forced to include backdoors.
On the other hand, with Cisco, we know it.
And if the US wants to start the blackmailing game, I'm sure they can call Cisco and make sure that their prices are.... compareable. Or if you have anything that may hint that Huawai indeed build in backdoors: Come up with some proof. Or at least an effing hint. Or clue. Or inkling... anything that is better than mere claim.
I'd even go as far and say that we'd be willing to believe any actual evidence (better to be spied on by the US than China) but as long there isn't anything like that the only sensible way to go is to put any possible vendor through a strict security check.
Re:Of course! (Score:5, Insightful)
Better the enemy you know than the one you don't.
So, why do you think it's a good idea to pay China for equipment that likely has back doors, or the possibility to add them sometime in the future by a company that's owned by a hostile state? Cisco may have well documented security issues, but they are not owned and controlled by a country that is hostile. Huawai would be in position to put a back door into any of their equipment with a firmware update, even if they don't exist now. Why take that chance? And how would you be able to know if they did? I seriously doubt they'd let you build the code from source...
Besides, Cisco and Huawai are not the only two choices here. There are more.
The issue here is who is behind the company. Huawai is clearly state run, in a thinly veiled way. Clearly Huawai would do as the government requires, and if that was to hide backdoors in their firmware updates, you can bet they'd do it. Cisco? Not so much.
Re:Of course! (Score:5, Interesting)
So, why do you think it's a good idea to pay China for equipment that likely has back doors,
Again, that's a false premise. As of now, your question should be phrased: Why do you think it's a good idea to pay China for equipment that has no indication of backdoors or security issues except unfounded claims from someone backing a competing vendor?
Huawai would be in position to put a back door into any of their equipment with a firmware update, even if they don't exist now. Why take that chance? And how would you be able to know if they did? I seriously doubt they'd let you build the code from source...
They will if they want to sell it to Germany and if it is necessary to pass the security audit. And with no reliable information performing such an audit for ANY possible vendor is the only way to go.
Clearly Huawai would do as the government requires, and if that was to hide backdoors in their firmware updates, you can bet they'd do it. Cisco? Not so much.
Well, any american company also is no further than a NSL away from having to give the three letter agencies full access, too. So, again, Germany can't rely on anyone here and has to run their own strict security audit and include any possible vendor here.
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But then... IF Germany really doesn't care who they hand over possible access to their secure networks to, then the USA is well within it's purview to impose security requirements. You want the data? Then you secure your networks to our standards.
Absolutely.
But that's not what happening here or can you name which security standard is violated how by Huawei? Setting up a body of security standards is exactly what Germany is doing at the moment and probably would be glad to get a "best practice" example of reproducible security standards. But as much as I try, "Do as we tell you and it is us who is asking the questions" is not a security standard.
Now, on the existence of back doors.... My point here is that you have no way of knowing if some piece of equipment has one or not or if some firmware upgrade doesn't throw one in. You cannot just look at a router sitting in on the table and tell. You likely cannot hook up to the various network ports, do a port scan and watch network traffic for a few hours and know there are no backdoors. The ONLY way to really know is to build the software from source code you have reviewed and understand and then only if you've also reviewed the hardware.
Exactly. And such a requirement could and should be part of the security standards used to select the most
How is this even a problem? (Score:3)
Ok so the US is concerned that Huawei gear could be used to spy.
The question I have is, why the hell is data (government or otherwise) being sent over cellular networks in a way that compromised gear (regardless of manufacturer) could steal it?
What data (intelligence or otherwise) are the US scared the Chinese might steal and why would it be sent over any networks without encryption?
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Yes so buying processors from an US company should be forbidden. Who know if Intel didn't deliberately include the Meltdown functionality for the NSA and other US intelligence agencies?
If the information is encrypted in a pure wholesome and superior European processor it doesn't matter if the information is transferred via a dirty communist Chinese chip or even touched by a Trumpian weasel of a processor.
(May contain some irony - but it's 100% correct)
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I would think Germany for handling classified intelligence information would be using Siemens gear or something they have tight control over. I don't see why this is a problem for normal German Citizen, as they are not getting private US intelligence on their personal devices.
Secondly I would think if this data would be via closed circuit where the routes would be tightly controlled. Heck for my work environment, we have numerous closed circuit network connections, with high levels encryption, just to be s
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We know well, from Merkel's cell phone, and others, that any secrets we share will get talked about on the phone, and that government employees, even at the highest level, consider their cell phone to be a normal way to conduct business.
Therefore if we're not sure about the security of your phone network, we don't want to share too much info.
It is that simple.
You can tell when the China shills come out (Score:3, Interesting)
What kind of intelligence did Germans get anyways? (Score:2)
Re: Buy American or else! (Score:3, Insightful)
Nice country you've got there, would be a shame if something were to happen to it...
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US Tells Germany To Stop Using Huawei Equipment Or Lose Some Intelligence Access
"Your terms are acceptable. Let us know when you're going to be withdrawing your (snort) intelligence from us".
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Nah, they'll send Mike Pence over....the Germans response will be, "Hey, how come you sent us door stop, we have door stops."
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Nah, they'll send Mike Pence over....the Germans response will be, "Hey, how come you sent us door stop, we have door stops."
Not like this one you don’t, our doorstop has Genuine People Personality tech courtesy of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation. When he is approached by a female of any sentient species our GPP doorstop let’s out a shrill scream and runs away in panic.
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Germany doesn't want Russia to get a hold of their intel.
That means that it is better to let China snoop in than to let the US snoop in.
Re:The other alternative is even dumber. (Score:5, Insightful)
But we'll go with the batshit crazy stupid version you prefer, then: USA tells germany that if they move to 5G that the USA will stop sharing anything with them from their intel (though they will still demand that Germany hand over stuff to them, even if it is via a proxy state like the UK).
And it's Germany's right to not share information with the USA if they don't find the relationship beneficial to them.
Look, I get why the USA is saying this. It's not about pushing USA build equipment, it's about preserving security on the networks that carry the terabytes of secret information passing between the countries. The USA doesn't want one specific manufacturer's equipment in that network. I get why.
Re:The other alternative is even dumber. (Score:5, Interesting)
it's about preserving security on the networks that carry the terabytes of secret information passing between the countries.
By preserve security you of course mean maintain the US ability to slurp it all up.
Um, you do have to realize that the Chinese government are not the good guys. Saying "well, what about NSA spying??" is a whataboutism argument. Yes, the NSA is a spy agency, but that doesn't mean that Chinese spying is something we shouldn't worry about.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/whataboutism-origin-meaning
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What's next - invade Germany?
Oh, no need. Immigrants have already done that.
Enjoy the shit show.
Americans moaning about immigration like their country isn't based off the fucking concept.
Immigration peak [Re:Buy American or else!] (Score:3, Informative)
Americans moaning about immigration like their country isn't based off the fucking concept.
The world moaning about ancient history as if it's fucking relevant anymore. Those that migrated to the US hundreds of years ago weren't.....
BZZT.
Immigration peak was actually in 1930. That's not 'hundreds of years ago'.
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Oh you Europeans are just jealous of how well people respond when the US commands.
Believe you me, the Swiss are getting as tired of the EU as you are of the US.
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I have no idea what makes you think I'm a US citizen.
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Oh and for the record. The commander and military force who liberated my village was Canadian.
The guy has a statue. We remember the soldiers who died for us every year with the whole village. Respectfully organized by the village counsel and federal government.
Some of them stayed here and they got housing from out government. They nowadays have a family, children and grandchildren. They are all integrated in our societies. And they are very much respected by our society. They just live among us, enjoying th
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Well, invoking Godwin's law is only legitimate if the mentioning of Nazi Germany isn't connected to the topic.
And it IS quite possible that without US intervention, the Soviets would have caved to the Nazi onslaught. After all, Stalin DID send unarmed men to defend Stalingrad, did he not?
So yeah, America did have its uses. YOU need to accept that. You're probably right, tthough, that this has little influence on our current debate.
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As I said, we would probably be speaking Russian.
It indeed has little to do with what is going on today.
Multiple generations have passed since this event. As a non-German European I even don't blame any single German person anymore.
This is now history.
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A military confrontation between the EU and the US would end in an earth that is sterile. Keep this firmly in mind.
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Germany even after the Versailles treaty rebuilt its army so quickly it caught everybody by surprise.
Not only that. Almost all military high-tech that is being developed in the world is being developed in the European Union. This includes rockets for your ballistic missiles, space industry, airplanes, etc.
You really think we can't develop military hardware to fight the US? Look at where your army's toys come from.
They come from us. Especially the high tech. Especially that.
You don't want us to turn those to
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I figured I give you a low tech example: The Goalkeeper.
This thing is keeping your aircraft carriers safe. Developed and produced in The Netherlands.
But I can also show you some websites of European companies who are producing the mirrors and camera's of your spy satellites, rocket engines, bombs being given to your F22 pilots. You want nuclear technology including nuclear weapons? Sure. We do that too. Better than you. Much better and much more reliable. Like the German cars, you know. The ones everybody w
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Of course you can develop military hardware, and the industrial infrastructure to manufacture it. But that takes time. The idea is to have such hardware toward the beginning of a conflict - very hard to build a factory once air superiority is forfeited and bombs rain down upon any ground movement. The idea of a US-European conflict is absurd - the US is the EU's security umbrella, and has been since WW2.
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You can't even build enough transports to move your military equipment, even after decades of considering it a priority.
You didn't know this, but almost all the US military equipment is made in the USA. You thought you were building our rockets? And airplanes? Wow, get you some internet.
I'm sure you could design some military hardware, but good fucking luck trying to spend the money it takes to actually build it. You'd have riots in the streets before you were even ready to challenge Canada.
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And after that event, all of the world's military powers will be bombarding the US with nuclear weapons. Including the remaining EU military power.
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Of course is the idea absurd. I wasn't the one who suggested it in this thread.
I called out the absurdity of the very idea from the beginning.
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Actually, increasingly, we are ignoring you.
For example. Very few EU countries helped you in Iraq. Very few helped you in Syria.
You can bet that almost none will help you in Venezuela.
Meanwhile we are building the North Stream 2 pipeline with Russia.
You and your regime are being ignored.
We also want you and your military to leave Europe. We are indeed not investing in NATO. We will start investing in our own European army.
This will continue like that until you Americans get it.
We want you to leave.
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That was jointly developed by General Dynamics. From Virginia.
Your argument is so weak; because we buy some parts for spy satellites from allies, that causes you to think we couldn't build them on our own?
We buy those parts to help support your industry, in the hopes that somebody protecting you will cost us less of our own blood and treasure.
The dick-waving "we do nuclear weapons better than you" is hilarious though. Dude, when you're waving a fake dick that hard, it is called "projection."
German cars are
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I'm not saying the US couldn't produce their own military toys. I'm saying the EU could produce the same military toys, and already produces the current military high tech toys.
I'm also saying that, if necessary, the EU could turn its mighty industry against the US's military industrial complex. And the EU would, while it itself gets bombed sterile, bomb the US sterile. Neither populations, not the US nor the EU's, would have one single survivor.
Except maybe a few who where smart enough to flee on boats tha
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I'm not, at all, asking for a military confrontation with the US. I'm responding to many people that it's absurd.
Please read what I wrote better.
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That's probably true (that our populations wouldn't want it). And that's also why we aren't investing in or waging wars.
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Actually, the countries in Europe who have the most recent direct experience with Russia/USSR (and have borders with Russia) very much do want the Americans to stay and increase their local presence. Just last year Poland made a direct request for a US base on its territory.
https://www.euractiv.com/secti... [euractiv.com]
and
https://www.npr.org/2018/11/22... [npr.org]
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Certain things are documented over here. Like who liberated who isn't a matter of propaganda but a matter of well documented facts with thousands of witnesses.
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Sounds like a great idea to ask the ECB to print Euros so that we can create our own DARPA.
We need the Euro to inflate anyway.
The EU's economy is a lot larger than the US's economy.
You bet that we can support a larger military than your country can.
We just don't want to, right now.
But challenge us. Go ahead. You'll quickly notice how fast we will militarily dominate you after you are already economically dominated by the EU (and nowadays China, too).
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The EU can't viably support a military the size of America's and nor should it want to. First the EU's GDP is roughly the same as the USA's not "a lot larger". Secondly, Europe has (rightly in my opinion) considerable government spending requirements on priorities like universal healthcare that the USA doesn't. T
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It would be nice if they at least match 1:1 for troop donation. They are almost the same size the United States is it too much to ask for it to be 50-50?
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We simply don't want to spend money on military. And especially not on military like NATO that helps the US with world dominance.
So no. We're not going to try to match 1:1 for troop donation.
Bye.
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I'm absolutely not disagreeing with you that the EU doesn't need a mega military like the US has.
The result would only be military confrontations that would basically wipe out all life forms on earth.
This is obviously not beneficial for either the US or the EU.
However. The EU does need to do business with China. No matter what the US thinks about that. This includes doing business with Huawei.
We are not part of the US's trade war. So the US can fuck off.
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"Mooching the United States"?
How so? Please elaborate, with real numbers based on real data.
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Look up any UN peacekeeper involvement and run the numbers of body contribution. The US foots 80%. Go ahead, look it up, I’m waiting. While you’re at it how about donating as much money as we do to NATO? It cost money to keep the lights running you know, and the EU has just as many fucking billionaires as we do, how about paying an equal share? Is it too much to ask? Maybe then we could afford to fucking send our people to college without making them permanent financial slaves the rest of t
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So what? We don't want to spend money on soldiers and military toys.
You do.
You are basically telling us to spend money on something we don't want.
Why don't you fuck off with your military?
Get out of Europe. Get out of Rammstein. Go away.
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We tried. Your guys begged us not to. Tell your guys to stop begging. Again, stop bitching about nationalism when your clearly against globalism. Nationalism is the opposite of globalism, you do understand how this works right? First you panick when trump wanted to pull out of nato, now your mad that he didnt. Make up your mind
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We want you to slowly leave, while we build up our own EU army.
Not drastically and immediate.
But if you do leave immediate and drastically, then that's fine too.
We'll cope. We might take from you the military NATO bases and weapons that are stored there, though. If necessary by force.
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You'd "cope" by learning Russian though.
You wouldn't look back on it as "coping," either.
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You really think that "Yankee go home" is means "please stay"?
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When you have someone who is willing to put the tab on their credit card to go out partying why not? Lets be honest that is how the US is funding the military spending to keep the defense economy running. It's like a snake eating its own tail. Some point something is going to give, China could stop it tomorrow except they have too much money invested as well.
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So when the guy with the credit card is funding the party, its prettymuch his call on which bars you hit and whose balloons get bought right? Thats generally how it works.
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Not really. You are still spending your credit card money in our European bar or disco. If we, the owner, don't want you here then you leave.
No matter the size of your stupid credit card bank account.
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China doesn't loan us money, they buy US Treasury Bonds.
The bonds have a certain repayment value. If a major buyer stops buying, that actually means the other buyers will get more profit. The higher the demand for bonds, the lower the profit.
If China stops buying them, non-China demand goes up.
In fact, most of them would be bought by Americans if the international demand was low enough that it could compete with other investments we have available. But large investors like nation states can't really find ot
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So? We don't want to spend money on military.
You, the US (assuming you are a US citizen) do.
We don't.
Please leave Europe with your military.
Go away.
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Just because the US does not want us to use Huawei for their own selfish reasons, does not mean that we should just trust China and Huwawei out of spite. Turn our backs on one big power that has pissed us off in the recent past, just to become dependent on another big power who? What kind of stupid reasoning is that?
Even if there's no evidence of spying so far, we should still demand from them to let us revi
Re:Ok, bye bye intelligence access (Score:4, Insightful)
This is obviously true. We shouldn't be naive about the Chinese.
And I agree. Let's get the CCC involved. Let's use reproducible builds for the source code. Let's put the SoCs and chips under an electron microscope. Let's let the EU institutions fund such analysis and research in foreign hardware.
We have plenty of money and if not we can let the ECB print the money for this.
However. Let's not let the Americans tell us with whom we do business and with whom we don't.
We will do business with China.
Full stop.
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We're not telling you what to do; receiving access to US intelligence is a benefit for the recipient country. Being military information, sharing it has restrictions. That isn't telling you what to do, that is merely telling you what the conditions of being that close of friends are.
It is so European to be given a choice, where you can do it our way and get full access, or do it your own way with partial access, and we're still going to cooperate either way; and you present that as telling you what to do, b
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Wait, I'm not saying it's a bad thing that the US stops sharing intelligence data with the EU.
It's fine. We are just saying bye to you.
Re: Hello Chinese agent (Score:5, Insightful)
Please don't save us and stay home. Spend your American tax dollars on bridges and education.
Like we do.
You need it.
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As an European, I don't feel identified with this person's comment and tone.
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Get real, most Americans cannot find Venezuela on a map much less give a flying rat's ass about it. The problem in the knob in the White House.
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Uh, I think you'd have less information about threats in the world without access to American information gathering.
That's about it. What do I care if Germany has 25% more terrorist attacks? It won't effect the parts of their economy that affect me.
And it isn't like Germany spends money collecting an equal amount of information to share.
I want the US Government to focus on protecting Americans; if we share data with allies, it is because we have shared values and a common cause. If the other country decides
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Yes yes. It's going really well for the Brits. You can see that.
Poor people living there. It must have been great listening to the populist propaganda back then, though. Is costing them and will cost them their welfare state.
But whatever. If you look at the stock market in the EU, you notice that we've mostly passed the pain already. The UK has not, though. The EU country's economy is going fine and continuing. As expected.
Why do I speak English? Well, because you don't speak any other language. And I'm com
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I speak Dutch (well, Flemish). My master's native language used to be French.
Our Dutch speaking area is right now the area that is the area that keeps the country economically alive.
We say here that a language is a dialect with an army.
Well. There was never a "Flemish" army because Flemish are so many dialects that we'd kill each other with laughter about all the different ways to say friet (frietn, frut, frutten, fruttekes, etc) before we could pick up weapons to fight each other over it.
Still. Our masters
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Do you speak Mandarin, Russian, or Arabic?
It is critically important to speak your Masters native language if you want to survive as a thrall.
Arabic isn't too hard to speak, it can be easy to write, but it's a bitch to read.
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Because why not? Sure we can ask Nokia and Siemens to work harder. But if they don't want to compete hard enough with Huawei, we just buy Huawei.
It's called capitalism.
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No they probably used Samsung. I have no idea what Merkel uses to spy. If you don’t think that every country spies on every other country regardless if theyre allies or not, then you’re fairly naïve. I don’t get bent out of shape every time I discover that Israel is spying on us. If we want to keep secrets bad enough we can. They seem to do a pretty good job of keeping the leaks out of area 51. If it doesn’t have that level of security, they probably wanted it leaked in th
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Actually the issue with this story is that it was the German spy agencies that spied on the chancellor, then sent all the information to the NSA.
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Iraq coms was disabled "remotely" by some well placed smart bombs. The USA knew where the critical infrastructure was and how to effectively disable the parts of it they wanted.
IF you stop and think about how all this stuff works, you will realize that it's easier than you might imagine to disrupt networks with weapons that go boom, and certainly easier than trying to disrupt systems from within. How many ways can you disable a switch center reliably?
In my opinion it's harder to do it using cyber attac
Re: (Score:2)
Your huwaaaaaaaawie meter is broken, complete redline.
Re: (Score:2)
There are 2 non-Chinese equipment suppliers to choose as alternatives.
They're both European.
D'oh!
This story is about America demanding the Europe buy the same European equipment that the US is trusting, because we're on the same side. It is as simple as that. You'd rather have cheap Chinese junk than the local stuff, who is gonna pay your taxes with an attitude like that?!
Re: (Score:3)
The US couldn't care less about the cell sites at the end. As