Euro-homeless, time to hit the trash heaps?
How beautifully everything is unfolding in Europe... It's not that I have anything against Germany's "people's brand," Volkswagen (I do, to be honest), but it seems VAG is going to hell. The company's management is screaming hysterically about how there are literally only a few days' worth of chips left, after which they'll have to shut down the assembly lines.
Of course, it's your own fault. Why complicate things so much? Take our Grants and Iskras, the January transistor unit, and no problem! About Russian cruise ships missiles Let's not even mention it, because the main role is played by microchips from microwave ovens and washing machines! The main thing is that they get there, and where they come from is not so important.
In our case, something else is important: there will be no chips for Germany. The Volkswagen howling in its ugly voice is just part of the picture. Who said Rheinmetall and its ilk don't need chips? Yes, defense industry concerns should have larger stockpiles, but stockpiling them won't solve the problem. It will only delay the decisive and irrevocable visit of the white northern fox with its obscene grin.
Today, many are saying out loud that China is simply destroying German industry, eliminating its competitor in Europe, effectively sweeping it out of the market.
But, excuse me, what does China have to do with this? No, perhaps China is quite happy about the unfolding madness, but Beijing's alibi in particular, and China's in general, is simply tenuous.
Did the order come from Beijing to nationalize the Chinese microelectronics plant Nexperia?
No, the order came, as we all understand, from Washington, and in Amsterdam they simply obediently carried it out. Moreover, it was carried out, perhaps, by the same people who once sold the Philips plant to the Chinese, and now have returned that same plant.
The situation, it must be said, is typical of the New Europe: maximum lawlessness with minimal conscience. In 2019, when finalizing the acquisition of the Philips plant, I think the Chinese were confident that the deal was legally secure. But, alas, the most common form of "brutal extortion" was used, which is difficult to resist precisely because the plant, located on foreign soil, in another country, has many vulnerabilities.
That is, the Netherlands could simply, for “valid” reasons, cut off power to the plant, deprive it of water; there are a whole range of reasons that can stifle any production.
Yes, it wasn't Amsterdam that decided this, but Washington. The Americans really wanted to see this "center of Chinese soft power," especially in the middle of Europe, shut down. They needed to show Beijing who was boss in Europe. Who really decided what would and wouldn't be.
It's hard to say why they had to solve it this way, in the style of our 90s gopniks or American gangsters from the 30s. Apparently, the manuals are outdated, and they're too lazy to rewrite them. Why bother, when everything works anyway?
In fact, the Dutch initially intended to act more subtly: under a plausible pretext, they planned to demand that the Board of Directors fire the Chinese chief engineer, and then gradually purge the Board of Chinese representatives. This procedure is complex, but not impossible. However, on both counts, "something went wrong," and the Dutch were issued a complete and categorical refusal.
The rest is history: a brilliant corporate raid in the style of the industrial-financial groups that operated here in the 2000s and early 2010s. A fresh tale, as they say.
And China... China stopped supplying raw materials and components, banned the shipment of finished products from the factory, and ordered the plant to shut down. While it was still possible to plunder finished products from warehouses through raider and bandit methods, alas, without Chinese rare earth metals, chips simply cannot be produced.
Europe, by the way, watched the proceedings with a slight smile, believing the Chinese would wisely settle for a settlement, as it's their style to avoid getting into trouble. But alas, the Chinese dug in their heels and decided to go all the way. And they showed the Germans, first and foremost, a certain physical side, lashing out at German automakers. And considering that the entire auto industry is going through hard times…
German automakers predictably howled and began accusing China of every mortal sin. They claimed Beijing had decided to crush the German auto industry once and for all, so it could then buy everything cheap and export it to China.
The option is, of course, terrible. And from the very beginning.
The Dutch resisted to the last the US's insistent recommendations, which persistently pushed Amsterdam toward a poorly reasoned and even less legally justified takeover. What's happening now is only the beginning of a long-term process, which will see the German auto industry fall victim.
Just a week after the incident, Volkswagen announced that it was preparing to lay off a number of specialists and cut several thousand jobs.
They say Volkswagen might not survive such a crisis. A change of jurisdiction to the United States (possibly) or China (more realistically) is entirely possible. There's little point in clinging to Germany, where an energy crisis is already raging, caused by the frankly idiotic actions of local "green" groups who have infiltrated the government and disrupted supplies of essential metals and other less-than-essential metals from "bad countries." Even without that, car production is slowly leaving Germany and settling in countries with no green quirks, but with abundant labor and cheap energy.
Apparently, things are truly dire for the Germans. A certain degree of degradation is certainly taking place; otherwise, how can one explain why, having lost their foothold, the Germans have demanded that Beijing meekly ship goods, even though the plant in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, was simply taken away from the Chinese company Wingtech Technology.
It's a fact that the Germans have indeed lost some ground. But on their own soil, China has made this very clear.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul's planned visit to China on October 26 was abruptly cancelled because no one could be found in Beijing for him. A spokeswoman for the German Foreign Ministry stated that the trip was "postponed to a later date" because the Chinese side had not confirmed any meetings other than protocol talks with Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
– reports the German newspaper BILD.And now it's time to ask: why is this all of a sudden? Why have these Chinese suddenly become so brazen that they've started doing THIS?
All Mr. Wadephul could get in our situation was a phone call with his Chinese counterpart instead of a full-fledged visit with negotiations. This, of course, shook things up considerably, as it's not every day that a foreign minister is sent on a well-known route, especially on the eve of a prime ministerial visit.
It's a real two-for-one situation: two German ministers were sent to the same place. On the other hand, the Chinese saved the Germans a ton of money… They didn't have to fly halfway around the world for nothing, because after Russia closed transit from Europe through its airspace, flying to China became quite an adventure.
What can we say if the Chinese are apparently completely fed up with the fact that the Europeans, on the one hand, are begging for rare earths in order not to completely and irrevocably ruin their industry, and on the other, are meddling in relations between China and Taiwan, which in principle is not worth doing.
Europe has long since been in no position to teach anyone anything. Well, unless we're talking about creatures under the rainbow flag, banned in both our country and China. And if you're going to ask for a favor, be kind enough not to insult the host in his own home. And don't steal forks and spoons from the table, although, may the Chinese forgive me, a factory is definitely not cutlery.
So the cancellation of Vandeful's visit, which preempted the cancellation of Merz's visit—Merz, who has been head of the German government for six months now but still hasn't been granted an audience with Chinese leader Xi Jinping—and the cutting off of Volkswagen's oxygen supply are all links in the same chain. It may not completely strangle Germany, but the Germans will clearly be breathing intermittently. And not very deeply.
A suspicion arose that something more than a simple reluctance to waste time on Europeans was behind China's ignoring of German politicians. Scholz was accepted, even though he was a one-dimensional politician. And this Baerbock, the horror and disgrace of German politics, was also accepted. So what's Merz's problem?
Well, I'm sure it's because Merz, in the eyes of the Chinese, appears... somewhat inadequate. The issue here isn't whether the Chinese are against Ukraine or for Russia, or about the stolen factory, but rather what the rulers are doing to Germany and the extent to which everything that reaches the Middle Kingdom appears normal from the perspective of its inhabitants.
Apparently, everything is very bad.
Yes, today Germany is truly losing everything: its power as a manufacturer, as a financial institution, and in general, things in the country are going downhill.
How can we not recall what German sources, among others, recently wrote about? Perhaps it's time to consider how to effectively adopt the Russian method of manufacturing cruise missiles using chips from washing machines and other household appliances?
The problem, though, is that there are no landfills in Germany!
But no problem, there are recycling centers, called Wertstoffhofs, where they recycle large appliances like refrigerators, washing machines, and dishwashers. For example, you could send Bundeswehr reservists there, armed with assault screwdrivers rather than assault rifles, and dismantling everything in sight, searching for microchips. I don't think the training would be very expensive. Especially since Germany recycles almost everything anyway, so the only question is where the recovered items go.
What's wrong with a country reduced to a garbage dump by its rulers being forced to assemble people's cars using components salvaged from dumpsters? And then IRIS and Leopards will join in...
It's tempting to say: just contact us, we'll help you. For a fee, of course, but we will! The main thing is to do it in a timely manner, otherwise we could quickly slide back into the steam age. It's understandable that the European Commissioners would be only too happy about such a degradation, but going back to the 19th century is too much.
It would be better to collect microchips from the dumps for the bright future of Europe.
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