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Senate Votes To Reinstate ZTE Ban That's Nearly Shut Down the Company (theverge.com)
The U.S. Senate has voted to reinstate a ban on ZTE that prevents the Chinese telecom company from buying U.S. components and using U.S. software. As The Verge notes, "it's still not clear if the reversal will make it into law: it has to clear a conference with the House, and then avoid a veto from President Trump, who advocated for cutting a deal that would lift the ban." From the report: ZTE was hit with the trade ban by the U.S. Commerce Department in April after failing to following through with a punishment for violating sanctions on Iran and North Korea. That ban essentially shut down ZTE, which relies on U.S. parts like Qualcomm processors. Shortly thereafter, Trump said he would cut a deal to revive the company, and a deal was reached -- with additional penalties that the department said were uniquely stringent -- earlier this month.
But senators on both sides of the aisle immediately threatened to stop the deal and reinstate the ban, citing ZTE as a national security risk. And ultimately, a bipartisan group worked to get legislation introduced. The Senate voted 85 to 10 in support of reinstating the ban. It was included as an amendment on the National Defense Authorization Act, a must-pass piece of legislation that has already moved through the House.
But senators on both sides of the aisle immediately threatened to stop the deal and reinstate the ban, citing ZTE as a national security risk. And ultimately, a bipartisan group worked to get legislation introduced. The Senate voted 85 to 10 in support of reinstating the ban. It was included as an amendment on the National Defense Authorization Act, a must-pass piece of legislation that has already moved through the House.
Qualcomm sold the equipment to ZTE. They know punishing Qualcomm will give them thought of leaving. Punishing a buyer would be a risk to their shareholders. I bet right now, someone at Qualcomm is drawing up what it would take to leave the United States influence.
Don't confuse China and Russia.
I have no idea how much of the russian allegations are true, other than the fact a few of the smaller fish have indeed been caught doing naughty things.
But worst case and its all true, that doesn't mean china is implied here. Russia and china have very different agendas, and to some degree consider each other traditional foes (Particularly because some of the border issues where never really resolved)
Excuse the Unicode crap in my posts. That's an apostrophe, and slashdot is busted.
I think our dear orange leader should just switch his phone over to a ZTE to prove how great they are. Win win.
Obey the President. Anything but total fealty is treason.
Can't wait to hear from Peter Navarro about the "special place in hell" for Senators that go against President Donald J. Trump. ... :-) ]
[ I imagine they will find Justin Trudeau to be very polite company
I'm getting out my popcorn popper ...
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
Obey the President. Anything but total fealty is treason.
Can't wait to hear from Peter Navarro about the "special place in hell" for Senators that go against President Donald J. Trump. [ I imagine they will find Justin Trudeau to be very polite company ... :-) ]
I'm getting out my popcorn popper ...
Speaking of special places in hell, the Trumpvilles of little children separated from their parents are showing a rather disturbing side of the Republican party.
Someone did ask a rather troubling question though - where are the infants and little girls in these Trumpvilles? They were taken away from their parents, but are nowhere to be found.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Where did the idea come from that preventing someone from "using 'our' software" was a thing that was even possible?
In his book "Dark Sun" Richard Rhodes quotes I. V. Kurchatov as saying "The most important thing that we learned from the Americans was that the atomic bomb was possible."
Knowledge is a highly infectious virus, and no amount of governmental attempts at control will do more than delay things. It's nice that companies want to make a fortune off a piece of software, especially a piece of software that was developed in thousands of different places for tens of thousands of different purposes. The long protracted and in my opinion idiotic SCO lawsuits should have demonstrated once and for all that patenting a general idea is a colossal waste of time.
In the 1980's, half a dozen small companies and more than a few individuals spent a year or two developing Unix clones from general principles. Western Electric considered it "their baby" and went to great lengths to protect it. Their corporate mind simply ignored the fact that the first versions of Unix were written by one person in a closet, and what one person was able to do, other people could - and did - also do.
Trying to stop the Chinese or the Russians from getting "our software" is just going to cause them to find some smartass programmer to do it all over again. Worse, such attempts will mean that a lot of similar and not-very-compatible versions will now circulate around and inevitably the consumer will pay in the end when stuff doesn't work quite the way they thought is should.
Somebody tell the Senate to stop tilting at windmills and worry about real problems instead of trying to prop up corporate moguls with a business plan that boils down to selling old products to deprived consumers for all eternity.
Don't take life too seriously; it isn't permanent.
Remember that you support this 110% when a congress kneecaps the next democratic president, after all "what is good for the goose".
I personally didn't support congress when they wasted years trying to kneecap Obama and I don't support congress spending years trying to kneecap Trump and I would argue there is a reason why they have had the most shit ratings in politics for decades now, its because people elect a president to do a job and if you don't like their choice? Then run someone you think is better against them, trying to kneecap them and keep them tied up so they can't get shit done for years just shows why congress is known for nothing but gridlock and graft.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.