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深度好文：台湾为何与我们渐行渐远？原文作者：廖信忠 (baidu) || I just noticed the article from Twitter. Also noticed A City of Sadness (悲情城市) from the comments. Personally my earlier view on re-union between mainland and Taiwan was shattered after seeing the Russia / Ukraine war since Feb 24, 2022. And it also reminded me of the recent Zero Covid policy implementation and protests in Hong Kong in 2019.
It’s no secret the US and the world are increasingly use drone as weapon, as shown in the recent attack on the former No 2 to Bin Laden, which is quite different from the killing of Bin Laden himself (about 11 years ago).
I think at least two reasons for that: 1. The technology advancement of drone and its associated weapons, such as the one used against al-zawahiri. 2. In the west, it’s harder and harder for the electorates to see soldiers died in foreign wars or military operations. Those are also reasons the US does not want to directly involve in the Russia-Ukraine war (which btw, the largest military conflict in Europe since the end of WWII), in addition to avoid the direct conflict of nuclear powers. I guess this will come to play in other relevant military conflicts too.
The two mentioned articles:
English: Senior Chinese banker on the mortgage boycotts
Chinese: 王永利：按揭贷款必须回归本原. Quote: 一是住房按揭贷款并不是完全以作为抵押物的房产作为偿还贷款本息的全部保证，贷款银行在处置按揭房产净收入不能完全偿还借款人所欠贷款本息时，仍可以对其进行延申追索，并会因借款人不能偿还所欠贷款本息而被诉诸法庭、列入失信人黑名单等，使“按揭贷款”偷变成一般的抵押贷款。|| This is mind boggling, so in other words, the banks will have recourse against the borrower’s income in addition to the house (apartment) in the mortgage. I think this is different from the west, in which the bank can only hold on the property (not the borrower’s other income), which is different from the government who has the claim in case someone does not pay tax.
I saw another tweet on the China property market.
And last but not least, just for fun: a customized Apple HomePod mini stand. Saw it from somewhere online.
PS, I noticed the US senate just passed the inflation reduction act: and it claims including some climate change funds (in billions). I think baby step is helpful. But the road to combat the climate and environment (aka save the earth) will be long.