37 ms·
It's funny I was talking to precisely a steelmaker about imports and exporters some time ago: "The American is no patriot, if steel is 30% cheaper in Japan, he
by daniel-cussen 5y ago
It's funny I was talking to precisely a steelmaker about imports and exporters some time ago: "The American is no patriot, if steel is 30% cheaper in Japan, he will buy it there rather than at home." It looks like, in fact, these Ukranians, also in the steel industry, might actually be doing something patriotic--like people all over the world, America too--and keep the surely very tricky and specific technology to themselves.
It's not unlike German "hidden champions", companies that figured out a niche safe from industrial espionage, usually something involving very precise know-how regarding something analog, and nobody can do it like they can. German hidden champions are generally family-owned, rather than public companies, and prefer it that way; they stay in Germany typically; and there are 300 of them by some reasonable reckoning. They make the critical thing that goes in the thing that goes in the thing.
Taiwan does something similar--they see their chip industry, which is also very dependent on human know-how and highly analog, high precision--as a patriotic endeavor that protects their sovereignty economically and geopolitically.
So, apparently the reason neon comes from Ukraine is some pretty smart Ukrainians wanted it that way, for the good of Ukraine, and specifically for Ukrainian sovereignty to matter to the rest of the world.
- eru 5y ago> So, apparently the reason neon comes from Ukraine is some pretty smart Ukrainians wanted it that way, for the good of Ukraine, and specifically for Ukrainian sovereignty to matter to the rest of the world. Nope. See the other comments here, that explain that the Soviet Union overinvested in this technology because they wanted to build weapons with it. It would probably have been better for the people of the Soviet Union (or Ukraine now) to have invested these billions into something else, or even just consumed them.
- daniel-cussen 5y agoYou seem to be right, it was a military-industrial move by the Soviet Union to counter the Strategic Defense Initiative (Star Wars). Having read a briefing describing the rocket involved, it Star Wars was cutting-edge 2060's technology that happened to be possible in the 80's due to a long list of edge cases. Well in the end, those neon producers harmed capitalism as intended.
- eru 5y agoHow did they harm capitalism?
- daniel-cussen 5y agoRight now markets are feeling the pinch due to the neon shortage.
- jbay808 5y ago> and specifically for Ukrainian sovereignty to matter to the rest of the world. Probably not, since it appears that this capacity dates back to a Soviet laser-defence project.