
Chinese Hackers Target Universities in Pursuit of Maritime Military Secrets - malshe
https://www.wsj.com/articles/chinese-hackers-target-universities-in-pursuit-of-maritime-military-secrets-11551781800
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witcherchaos
Why is US pretending to be friend with an enemy that is out to steal anything
in US that isn’t locked down? Least of which, an enemy that is a dictatorship
that has oppressed religion, democracy, free speech, and free will in its
domain?

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curiousgal
See I could never comprehend this attitude, how is it that we throw the word
"enemy" around so lightly at countries that steal our technology or are
dictatorships but we get so appalled and shocked when middle eastern countries
that we _bomb_ call us the enemy?

We should probably raise the bar as to what constitutes an enemy if we want to
remain on our moral high horse, because otherwise we're hypocrites. Just my
two cents.

~~~
themodelplumber
People use the word "enemy" when they speak about protecting themselves,
because they sense that they are vulnerable or becoming more vulnerable.

When others talk about protecting themselves _from you_, yes, that's
uncomfortable. But saying "we get so appalled and shocked" kind of points at a
straw-man "we" here. That's not "us" in every case. It might just be those
reactionaries over here or there. It also points at the shock of diving into a
culture as the US did in the middle east: Wow, it's diverse, not just one
opinion--shocking. That's how education happens.

Raising the bar as to what constitutes an enemy carries a very clear risk,
too: Underestimating your enemy. People know a lot about that nowadays.

However I think we can develop our cultural vocabulary here. There's an
opportunity for that and it's very clear when discussions about "enemy" and
how it's awkward even arise.

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malshe
Off topic but relevant: I posted this story today morning at around 9 am EST.
It was flagged within 5 minutes and never got any visibility. This is a repost
because that submission is effectively dead.

~~~
early
Why are you posting link to pay to view articles? Referral bonus?

~~~
malshe
Oh you caught my little scam! /s

There is no rule against posting a paywalled article on HN when there is a
workaround. FWIW I had posted an outline link in the comment on that posting.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html)

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joejerryronnie
The US is going to be in a hot war with China within 10-15 years. The only way
to avoid this is to crush the Chinese economy through trade wars, forcible
containment of Chinese expansion (e.g. Huawei ban, undermine belt and road),
and covert ops - and that may not work. China is clearly an enemy of the US
and is on the cusp of becoming an existential threat. Forget about breaking up
big tech, is it time to start thinking about breaking up China?

This is clearly an extreme position, but how extreme do you think it will be
in 5 years?

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ackbar03
Why can't we live in peace bro

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joejerryronnie
Because while you’re living in peace, the other guy will come for you in the
night. It’s unfortunate but that’s how it’s been throughout human history. The
only societies which have enjoyed peace are those that have the overwhelming
means to destroy their enemies.

~~~
ackbar03
I guess that's why we are trying so hard to have those overwhelming means (I'm
Chinese)

~~~
joejerryronnie
Yeah, I understand your position. It’s too bad, and quite scary that
geopolitics may force us to pick sides one day.

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jorblumesea
In hindsight, I think US having good or even decent relations with China will
be seen as a historic strategic mistake. The Sino-Soviet split seemed like a
brilliant move at the time but birthed a monster. Giving even one ounce of
legitimacy to the CCP was clearly a long term miscalculation. The soviet union
would have fallen eventually anyways, there was no need to court demons.

We used to cut these countries off and isolate them, now we do business with
them while they steal our tech and manipulate our population. Now it looks
like we have a vehemently anti-western authoritarian superpower in the making.

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themodelplumber
We are pretty open here in the US, sure. I mean I'd never expect things like
[0] from China, let alone (what I'd expect to be) comparatively loud work
coming from academia.

I say let them keep trying, with some security tweaks here and there as
needed/justified. But redouble our connections with academia. We need to
harness massive growth in the face of such a conservative opponent, not more
excuses to slow things down and stabilize around security so soon.

0\. [https://madsciblog.tradoc.army.mil](https://madsciblog.tradoc.army.mil)

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rangibaby
> let alone (what I'd expect to be) comparatively loud work coming from
> academia.

The US was able to use their lead in computers to design stealth aircraft
based on Soviet mathematics:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petr_Ufimtsev](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petr_Ufimtsev)

~~~
simula67
This would prove the OP's point, wouldn't it ? Soviet Russians had interesting
discoveries in semiconductors also [1]. However, they were never able to
parlay it to economic success as US and other western powers were able to

[1] [https://hsm.stackexchange.com/questions/6367/did-russia-
have...](https://hsm.stackexchange.com/questions/6367/did-russia-have-their-
own-discoveries-in-the-development-of-semiconductors-and-t)

~~~
rangibaby
I wasn't trying to correct anyone, I just thought it was an interesting
factoid

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neurotech1
Non-Paywall version: [https://outline.com/s9tgAF](https://outline.com/s9tgAF)

