<<side note, as the rare earth and other goodness do not stop at the border of china inner mongolia autonomous region, thus giving rush to mongolia (outer) for goodness that can only go one way, the right way; and as chinese geological survey indicates much goodness in tibet autonomous region which can well be developed by tapping the great hydro resource of the region (and so the worry of parched india), it should be obvious that the afghan resource probably does not stop at it border, but spill over in all directions>>

full trade war will see the destruction of the global middle class, a class that is the minority in china and the majority everywhere else

life is not just about rocks

in full trade war, hk would make out like a bandit, running trades

in full trade war, europe, russia, and china would opt out, japan must choose its new destiny, india can do whatever, canada would not participate, and usa would be very much alone

who needs a deadbeat debtor as a trade partner anyway?

my read of the situation, pulling back via fractal math to appreciate the full splendor, is that:
- team usa is stirring the pot unbecomingly to forestall the return of a world power to its seat at the head table after 6 hundred years absence
- team china, as did team usa, will tend to make own rules
- as long as team china, usa, and russia playing for self and distinct interest, china can face down usa as it had plenty of times from much weaker positions
- team usa engaging with china periphery of asean is not of consequence (all too small and disorganized) but interesting to watch
- team usa engagement of india is also not of consequence (that mountain is high, and cutting off water is simpler than choking off rare earth) but interesting to watch
- team japan must soon choose its destiny
- all of team usa' efforts going forward must be on borrowed money, and must fund all efforts above the burden willingly accepted by all players, including creditors and would-be creditors
- soon enough russia should recognize an opportunity, and europe should realize a danger
- iow, the game is on, and both japan and usa must print alongside china, and china must print so that it can grow, reform, and be stable
- above be my simplistic read of situation w/o benefit of knowing details of sterilization and repos and swaps and such
- in the mean time, am ramping to renovate abode of in-laws starting march 1st, and am wondering if i should hoard some sony tv flat screens before they run out of components

recommendation, getyourfavoritebasketofmetals