Two Narcissists and a Leader: Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Justin Trudeau, and C.C. Wei
Effective Leadership
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Justin Trudeau, and C.C. Wei. Two of these people are narcissists and only one of them is an effective leader.
Three examples and three outcomes with interactions with Trump:
Zelenskyy: Negotiations over Ukraine’s non existent rare earth metals
Trudeau: Canadian Tariffs
Wei: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Invest $100 billion into U.S.
Ukrainian Imaginary Rare Earth Metals
The most bizarre news story right now is the ongoing Ukraine rare earth metals coverage. Ukraine doesn’t have any any valuable rare earth metal mines. 50% of zero is still zero.
Donald Trump is foolish for asking for something that has no value.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy is an idiot for not immediately agreeing to give away something worthless in exchange for hundreds of billions of dollars.
These rare earth metals are valuable.
Neodymium and Dysprosium: Needed for high-performance magnets used in electric motors and cooling systems in data centers.
Praseodymium: Needed for magnetic alloys in hardware.
Europium and Terbium: Needed for displays and lighting of advanced computing systems.
Ukraine has less than 1% of important rare earth metals. Their rare earth metal mines are scarce and unprofitable to mine.
What Ukraine has is grain, iron and coal. Instead of rare earth metals, negotiations should be focused on a percentage of Ukraine’s grain, iron and coal. These are resources Ukraine has and they have value.
On the other hand, Ukraine’s rare earth metals don’t exist or are unprofitable to mine - making them worthless. The coverage by the media and the negotiations between Trump and Zelenskky on this topic are completely asinine.
Let’s assume rare earth metals are important. Let’s also assume China is America’s greatest threat. The most strategic thing to do is to move US military resources to Asia and strengthen ties with Australia.
Neither Ukraine or Russia is relevant. Zelenskyy overplayed his hand with his arrogance.
Canadian Tariffs - Bad for Canada, Good for the Liberal Party of Canada
The tariffs are the 51st state trolling are a product Trump’s hate of Trudeau. That’s it.
The brief video posted on Twitter by Canada's public broadcaster, CBC, showed Mr Trudeau chatting with a group of leaders, including Mr Johnson, Mr Macron, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, and Queen Elizabeth's daughter Princess Anne at Buckingham Palace.
At the start of the footage, Mr Johnson asked Mr Macron: "Is that why you were late?"
Mr Trudeau then interjects: "He was late because he takes a 40-minute press conference off the top."
BBC December 4th, 2019
Trump called Trudeau two-faced afterwards and has hated him ever since. Trump is spiteful and holds grudges.
The quickest solution to avoid this problem would have been Trudeau resigning last year.
Trump’s tariffs are ironically beneficial to polling for Canada’s Liberal party because it galvanizes patriotism around the current leader and party.
There is a prisoner’s dilemma in play here. The best way for the Liberal party to win the next election is for the tariffs to continue. The tariffs are most likely to continue if Trudeau stays in office longer.
The dance that is currently in play is one where Trudeau stays in office just long enough for the Liberal party to overtake the Conservative party in Canada in polling without completely ruining Canada’s economy by the time it happens.
A real leader would have done what is best for his country instead of his party.
TSMC Invest $100 billion into U.S.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing will pour $100 billion into bolstering chip manufacturing in the U.S., President Donald Trump announced Monday.
The president called the investment a “tremendous move by the most powerful company in the world.” The new capital brings TSMC’s total investment in the U.S. to $165 billion and will go toward building five new fabrication facilities in Arizona.
This is a really smart move by TSMC. As I mentioned last year, almost all advanced chip manufacturing occurs in Taiwan.
The image below is from my Securing American AI Superiority article last year.
This $100 billion investment serves two purposes. It prevents tariffs on Taiwan. More importantly, it is an indirect protection fee for the entire country of Taiwan.
China’s military has set up a zone for “live-fire training” about 46 miles (74 kilometers) off the southwestern coast of Taiwan without advance notice, the island’s defense ministry said on Wednesday, condemning the move as provocative and a threat to international navigation. It comes a day after Taiwan’s coast guard detained a Chinese-crewed cargo shipsuspected of cutting an undersea cable in the Taiwan Strait.
If you are Taiwanese, give thanks to C.C. Wei, CEO of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. He saved Taiwan from tariffs and probably assured U.S. military protection for the near future at a time when China is increasingly aggressive.
This is what a real leader looks like. One narrative that I disagree with is that CEOs have too much power. CEOs are responsible for doing things that work. Politicians just win popularity contests.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Justin Trudeau, and C.C. Wei. You don’t necessarily want a politician responsible for the fate of your country.
Zelenskyy's arrogance? His desire for proper security guarantees has nothing to do with arrogance. They result from the constant disregard for the treaties negotiated between Russia and Ukraine. This is not about money. It is about being able to defend one's country from an aggressor.
Trudeau did what any reasonable person in his position would do: impose counter-tariffs and not give in. Incidentally, Pierre Poilivre is also calling for the same.
Your analysis is neither thorough nor correct. The content does not make up for the clickbait title. Disappointing.