Best Buy won’t sell Huawei phones, laptops, or smartwatches anymore
theverge.com
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Now that Chinese companies want to do the same under the same guise, that is not OK. USG is against it. Even thou there is no proof that the devices are tampered or backdoored. (I assume they are, but there is no proof.)
Funny how the same very thing that the US has invented for their imperial purposes ("free-trade") when it was strong and alone in that position comes to bite the inventor in the arse now that China does the same.
Foreign countries can and do block American technology from sensitive sectors all the time. Your comment is especially inexplicable when the context is China, which blocks a whole host of American websites.
> (I assume they are, but there is no proof.)
I don't really understand your position here. You say yourself that Huawei devices are probably backdoored. I also believe this, and presumably the USG does as well. Given that Chinese corporations only exist if they are in the CPC's good graces, it is a reasonable assumption. Why is ironclad proof required before taking action then? Nobody is on trial here, there is no requirement for "proof beyond a reasonable doubt".
Also, in the case of USG we do not presume anymore, we know for a fact that it spies on both the US (which is illegal) and the rest of the world (which is scary).
For the rest of your comment, I have to refer you to the last paragraph of my previous comment.
It is what Nazis did during WWII and what Stasi did in the ex DDR. Back then, the world - especially the so called "free world" - was appalled. And they did it "only" to their citizens.
It is not scary. I wanted to put it mildly. It is rogue!
its absurd to imagine that the US would limit the sale of its own devices, on some sense of fairness; its much more believable to think that every other country would limit sale of US devices in their own country, should they see fit.
And if the US has an lucky, unfair hand, it would be irresponsible and downright stupid to not make use of it.
Imagining countries as rational operators, having seperate (maybe moral) expectations on export vs import is exactly what you should expect
There are very few countries on the Earth that can withstand the pressure (political, economic, intelligence, military) of the hegemon which, again, under the guise of "free trade" pushes his own imperial interests. And those countries are immediately called an "enemy" to the "free world" (euphemism for "US and its vasals NATO and EU"). So, the "international community" (another euphemism for "US and its vasals NATO and EU") has to sanction such a country - applying political and economic pressure. If it's militarly weak, to bomb it - applying intelligence and military pressure, as well. In case you don't know which countries I am talking about, just open your warmongering media - warmongering, as they didn't oppose any war of the empire.
Because of all of this, countries cave in and accept being exploited just to avoid the worst. No matter if is is a mobile phone or gas pipeline.
I'll end with a quote from a former free thinking German politician about how USA enforces its interests: "The manner of thought that takes into regard solely its own interests can only be referred to as totalitarian."
The US should be trying to enforce its politics onto other countries, if it benefits itself; in this model, it is the failure of other countries to not find a way to defend themselves (ie by grouping together and forming the EU).
Again, it would be stupid for the US to not pursue its interests; there may be humanitarian and moral conflicts that stop or hamper its pursuit, but the pursuit itself is perfectly justified.
China should protect its own interests, as should the US, as should Germany; and all them should support their own interests
Yes, it is normal that every country wants to protect its interests, but not at the expense of others! And by using the above mentioned pressure, USA bullies others to take a hit for its interests. Two examples:
(1) Biden regarding the countries who weren’t willing to impose sanctions on Russia over Ukraine: “Alot of us had to rally the world’s major economic countries to impose real cost on Russia. It is true they did not want to do that, but again, it was America’s leadership and the president of the United States insisting, oft times almost having to embarrass Europe to stand up and take economic hits to impose costs on Russia.”
(Remember, these are alleged US partners - major NATO and EU members - he's taking about.)
(2) A few days ago, US threatened to sanction European firms involved in Russian gas pipeline project for Europe called North Stream 2. US wants European countries to buy its gas instead of the Russian cheaper one. (US gas is transported by ships and it is much more expensive)
1. Excessive tariffs on companies domiciled outisde China
2. Demanding IP transfer to China as a precondition to evening the playing filed
3. Demanding access to any and all data used by a corp., regardless of privacy of the users
4. Backing domestic companies with unlimited, unfair lines of credit
5 ....
It's NOT a co-incidence that Facebook, Apple, Google, ... that dominate tech pretty much everywhere else lack a significant presence in China.
AWS is there, but they actually don't operate it (and the offering pales in comparison with all of their other regions)
Many of the devices are assembled in China thus it's conceivable a backdoor may be installed at that time.