President Trump Was Successful - North Korea is Dismantling It's War Machine.

a reply to: introvert

Of course they would not be completely worthless.

Far from it. As I said, some are worth more than gold in their raw state.

We have access to these materials, but little to no manufacturing. It's not because we do not have access to the materials. It's because we have no manufacturing base for such industries.

No, it's due to the cost difference between buying them on the American market versus buying them on the Chinese market.

Take photovoltaic solar cells... most of these on the market today are either CdTe (cadmium-tellurium) or CIGS (copper-indium-gallium-selenium) cells. China has the bulk of the cadmium production, closely followed by South Korea and Japan. China also has the bulk of the world's supply of indium. They do not export these materials. What we get for research is from the few deposits in the rest of the world, and it is simply not enough for manufacturing purposes. The result is that solar cells can be produced in China for anywhere from one-tenth to one-fourth the cost of producing them here simply because the materials needed are cheaper because China restricts their market to Chinese companies.

I cannot buy solar cells as cheaply as I can buy solar lighting sets! That's in a private research facility. I can get good prices based on long-term relationships with suppliers on almost anything else, but not on solar cells. Why? Because China highly restricts the sale of solar cells themselves. The export fees on bare solar cells are so great that they are more than the additional cost needed to install them into retail units.

That is a part of the Chinese' goal... they control the world's solar industry just as DeBoers controls the world's diamond supply. In truth, diamonds cost many many times more than they are actually worth based on supply, but DeBoers has limited the supply to keep the prices abnormally high. China is doing something similar with solar power.

Semiconductor manufacturing is limited mainly to the Asian continent because of this as well. There are components that do not require the elements held by China, but attempting to successfully operate a company to manufacture semiconductors when one is economically prohibited form obtaining the materials needed for the bulk of the devices is futile at best. The equipment is tremendously expensive, and only justifiable if used to produce many different types of devices. That, incidentally, is why Solyndra failed... and why I said it would fail the first time I heard about them. It's a nice little auxiliary goal for the Chinese, letting them control the bulk of the planet's semiconductor industry as well.

It would be like trying to set up a glass-blowing factory in a country that had very little sand and no ability to import more.

In fact, it's that sort of shortsightedness that led us to where we are today.

The only shortsightedness is not partnering with China sooner and securing a source of raw materials.

TheRedneck

originally posted by: Wardaddy454

originally posted by: hopenotfeariswhatweneed
a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

If Trump manages to bring peace to Korea he deserves recognition and possibly would genuinely earn himself a peace prize. Personally I would very much like to that happen ,however I'm cynical because the history books tell a different story.

If nothing good comes of it, it will be because someone after Trump decided to derail the progress.

Oh a bit like dishes, I wash them then someone comes along and makes them dirty again. Makes sense...

I'm genuinely curious how much people think Trump was directly responsible for here. I have a feeling his diehard supporters are assuming this is all due to Trump, he is the reason this is happening. Personally I think the sanctions he had a hand in did help push Kim to make the decision, but I also think quite a bit of this was completely out of Trump's hands. I think the collapse of their nuclear mountain was a big setback for NK. They had a choice of vague threats and staggering sanctions, or to start playing ball with SK and pull back on their nuclear testing (which was probably massively impacted by the collapse regardless), to ease sanctions.

I don't think Trump's bluster towards NK had anything to do with this. In fact, I suspect it accelerated their testing and threats towards the United States. Also the meeting between NK and SK was well before the Trump summit, and the vague agreement that something would happen was basically the same document already used in SK. I do give Trump some credit. But I think it's laughable to hear his supporters heap praise on him, and act as if he was solely responsible for this turn of events.

Just a follow-up on the opening post...

US intelligence agencies find North Korea 'building new missiles'
...US INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES have found that North Korea is building new missiles, based on satellite photographs taken in recent weeks and other new evidence, according to reports.

The Washington Post, citing officials familiar with the intelligence, reports that just weeks after a high-stakes summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Pyongyang appears to be developing at least one or two liquid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missiles....

Imagery from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency suggests ongoing work on at least one Hwasong-15 ICBM at the Sanumdong plant, the Post said.

“We see them going to work, just as before,” a US official told the newspaper.
...
But at the Sohae Satellite Launching Station on North Korea’s west coast, workers can be seen dismantling an engine test stand, in line with a promise made to Trump at the summit, though the move is seen as more symbolic since the facility can easily be rebuilt.

An image taken on July 7 shows a bright-red covered trailer in a loading area that appears to be identical to those vehicles the North has previously used to transport ICBMs....

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a reply to: Gemwolf

Color me surprised....

a reply to: Gemwolf

Interesting that nobody on this thread is commenting on your addition, maybe this latest development is worthy of a thread of its own, personally I'm amazed anyone actually believed that nth Korea was going to denuclearise...