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I’m kind of surprised by the response here. For one thing this helps European telecoms suppliers. On top of this there is this weird expectation that the way th

by erentz 7y ago

I’m kind of surprised by the response here. For one thing this helps European telecoms suppliers. On top of this there is this weird expectation that the way things have been is good and should continue. I don’t see this justified. Huawei exists in large part because of the history of the US opening it’s markets to China which helped the Chinese economy grow immensely (not to mention copying Cisco). I’m not going to defend the US on everything but it has its own interests and nobody should be surprised over the coming decades if it starts closing off its market and withdrawing its guarantees on securing other countries trade. Europe has had a lot of time to grow up and should at this point realize this probable future and decide what such a future means for it, and decide how it wants to present itself in such a world.

klingonopera 7y ago
Exactly. When the going gets rough, the US is just as willing as any other authoritarian state to sacrifice all justice, friendship, goodwill and fairplay to secure their profits. Why should the EU follow the US into their dirty game? The first 70 years after war, the US at least tried to keep the illusion of being decent. Now everything's an all-out free-for-all, and EU should be looking after themselves than the interests of somebody else.
- trickstra 7y ago
  US is also threatening to stop business with whoever doesn't ban Huawei, so that's why
  - emn13 7y ago
    Without trying to imply some kind of opinion as to Huawei or Trump here: I don't think that's a serious threat. It's one thing to make a lot of tough-looking noise as a matter of protectionism to curry favor with voters thus protected - it's quite another to actually hurt those same voter's economic interest fairly quickly without clear, short-term benefit. In other words: protection classical industry makes some sense politically (whether or not it's a good idea), setting off a real trade war with your allies when you're also in a trade war with china makes no sense at all. Also, I doubt Trump needs to. He's quite capable of harassing Huawei without much foreign support. Why risk a recession - and thus reelection - if you don't have too?

by erentz 7y ago

klingonopera 7y ago

Exactly. When the going gets rough, the US is just as willing as any other authoritarian state to sacrifice all justice, friendship, goodwill and fairplay to secure their profits. Why should the EU follow the US into their dirty game? The first 70 years after war, the US at least tried to keep the illusion of being decent. Now everything's an all-out free-for-all, and EU should be looking after themselves than the interests of somebody else.

trickstra 7y ago
US is also threatening to stop business with whoever doesn't ban Huawei, so that's why
- emn13 7y ago
  Without trying to imply some kind of opinion as to Huawei or Trump here: I don't think that's a serious threat. It's one thing to make a lot of tough-looking noise as a matter of protectionism to curry favor with voters thus protected - it's quite another to actually hurt those same voter's economic interest fairly quickly without clear, short-term benefit. In other words: protection classical industry makes some sense politically (whether or not it's a good idea), setting off a real trade war with your allies when you're also in a trade war with china makes no sense at all. Also, I doubt Trump needs to. He's quite capable of harassing Huawei without much foreign support. Why risk a recession - and thus reelection - if you don't have too?