In Beijing's backyard, U.S. demonstrates its military might

[Warpy]

7. The CHIPS Act has done more than all the military muscle flexing in the world

because it's removing what Xi wanted most of all, the world's biggest manufacturer of ultra high tech electronic chips. While this doesn't sound like much to people who don't know what's going on, Taiwan had a near monopoly on chips that went into everything from i phones to military fighter jets and precision missiles across the planet.

The Republicans spent years with their thumbs up their butts. The Democrats passed the act, making sweet deals for relocating much of Taiwan's capacity here in the US while shoving low cost loans at US chip makers like Intel to modernize their own equipment. In fact, I saw cranes set up at the local Intel plant and since Intel wasn't expanding, I surmised they were there to lift the machinery into place.

Taiwan isn't under such intense threat now because of this. Xi would no longer have even a short term monopoly--the machinery being made in The Netherlands using components manufactured in the US and other places. That plus the mess Putin has faced in Ukraine have put a severe damper on his ambition. Saner heads might even convince him to adopt a long term strategy to attract Taiwan into the fold rather than trying to conquer them into it out of greed. Good luck to them, Xi's ridiculously heavy handed tactics in Hong Kong have made that a really tall order.