Comments by "David Himmelsbach" (@davidhimmelsbach557) on "How the West Can Exploit Russia's "Dutch Disease" and End the War in Ukraine" video.

  1. The shortage is ENTIRELY due to an explosion of demand. Global chip output has been expanding at a phenomenal rate for decades. The US lost its hyper dominance -- having created the entire industry (Texas Instruments patent, especially) -- when Asian governments force fed money into their national favorites. This reached its extreme in South Korea and Taiwan.
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  2.  @CRMcGee2  I've long imagined atomic plants located off shore -- in titanic buckets -- very much in the style of oil drilling mega-platforms seen in tough seas. The idea is to have the reactor below sea level, to cool it with sea water, and to send the power to shore via DC underwater cables. (DC is required in salt water.) The bucket would be a fortress against intrusion. It would also allow -- in total panic conditions -- the bucket to flood with sea water. The exterior of the bucket would have flotation cells such that the entire contraption could be floated in from its factory -- and floated away to the ocean deep for disposal -- if such a drastic action was necessary. As to the atomic specifics, it appears that a breeding chain reaction is beyond our keen. So, I'm going to assume that the Westinghouse style scheme will have to do. I don't favor locating atomic plants -- as has been the custom -- in continental interiors -- especially along lakes or rivers. I favor factory manufacture -- probably in Washington State... at least for the bucket... with the design being standardized -- as we do airliners. The idea of locating the buckets off shore is to make tsunami risk zero. This would entail never using major stretches of coastline. You need to be far enough out that a tsunami would not 'break' --- would not rise high. The bucket would have semi-bouyancy -- so that it would not require support from below - beyond existing natural soils. At the same time it would be hefty enough to not shift because of wave action. All sites would be long tested before a reactor was plopped down. During operations, supplies would arrive by helicopter and hover craft and conventional shipping. Obviously, heavily trafficked sea lanes would not be considered. Most of the world's power demand is along the coast. This is where most industry is sited. Atomic plants need to be balanced with massive PV arrays in suitable locations -- like New Mexico. I also favor a grand scheme to exploit Peru's hydro-potential -- more valuable than Saudi Arabia's oil, it is. Looking out a century, the utopian hydrogen economy could actually pencil out. Coal, like wood, would be a passing phase for humanity.
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  3. Bingo, Louis.
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  4. The Dutch went high tech -- and got over it. The slickest machines that make the chips come from the Netherlands. Yup.
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  5. Putin is doing a land-office business with Xi. He wants US dollars.
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  6. The immediate cure is COAL. The shift back to natural gas can occur pretty quickly once the war is won. Good enough beats perfection.
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  7.  @dutchuncle3310  Well, America can ship coal, too. All of the required infrastructure is in place -- has been for years.
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  8. Germany has NONE. She'll be depending upon her Dutch neighbor to do the deed.
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  9.  @DataStorm1  It actually got started because of euphony. In the US, Dutch ELM Disease was horrible -- it killed Elm Street. Dropping out the tree made for a cheesy and memorable headline for an economics pitch.
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  10.  @fermitupoupon1754  The Dutch government's behavior was quite un-Dutch. This was noted rather immediately. Here, in the US, heads were spinning -- the contrast was so great. In the American lexicon -- a Dutch uncle is one who provides tough, (honest) advice -- and absolutely no money. To be contrasted with a 'doting uncle' a sunshine fellow who is free spending and admiring of nephews and nieces. Even while it was happening, critics pointed out that there was no way that the gas field would last on and on and on. But, the government was blowing the receipts on any and every political whim. One is reminded of the Spanish folly. When the plunder of the New World arrived, the royals blew it all away. No small part of the largesse ended up trapped -- in Spanish Holland. It ended up financing their war for independence --- in a loopy round-about way. [ The Dutch were the folks casting the King's canons... invented just down the canal over in Burgundy. But that's another story. ]
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  11.  @Ozzie786-m9z  Nope. Every time a Russian/Soviet client dropped the ball -- military exports cratered.
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  12. Why bring up toxic Iran? KSA could do the deed... but won't. It's the Biden 'touch.'
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  13. Much of Putin's production comes from the Arctic. Such fields simply REQUIRE Western tech. The climate/weather is brutal on all gear. So, don't expect Putin to maintain production tempos up north. Iran ran into the same problem. Its fields used totally unique American turbo-compressors. Their lack collapsed production volumes. It took the mullahs years to figure out that no subterfuge was effective. The Americans always knew who wanted the magic repair parts.
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  14.  @CRMcGee2  MSR is a dead end. It's been five-years away from perfection -- for fifty-years. Back in 1980, the inside experts 'fessed up. It has insuperable technical flaws because of materials limitations. It's also THE route to totally unconstrained back-pack nukes. These require U-233 bred from Th-232.
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