Countercurrent – August 10, 2024
Israel Kills 100 People Performing The Dawn Prayers
by Dr Marwan Asmar
More than 100 Palestinians were killed and dozens injured, Saturday morning, after Israeli occupation forces bombed the “Al-Tabi’een” school, which houses displaced people in the Al-Daraj neighbourhood east of Gaza City.
Local sources reported that the occupation warplanes bombed the school while Palestinians were performing the dawn prayer, and they were specifically targeted after the Takbeer of the dawn prayer.
Eyewitness reports say limbs – arms, hands, feet and heads of those performing prayers were scattered around the school’s prayer hall in what is described as one of the worst massacres committed by the Israeli army yet.
The Civil Defense said that the bodies of citizens caught fire as a result of the Israeli bombing of the school, noting that the crews are trying to control the fire to retrieve the bodies of the martyrs and rescue the wounded but it’s a difficult and painful exercise.
Reports say the four-storey school was hit by three missiles each weighing 2000 pounds according to Al Jazeera. The prayer hall which was at the bottom of the building was itself hit by a devastating missile.
Director of Ambulance and Emergency in the Gaza Strip described the massacre as a heinous crime, while the spokesman for the Civil Defense in the Gaza Strip confirmed that the Israeli bombing of the school led to the martyrdom of 90% of the displaced people there.
In the first response from the Israeli occupation army, the Air Force confirmed it targeted the school because it was used by the resistance as a headquarters, which is the excuse that the occupation uses every time it commits a massacre with reporters on the scene saying this is an absolute lie.
About 350 families were sheltering at the school, amounting to around 1000 people. It recently received dozens of displaced persons from the northern town of Beit Hanoun, after they were forced by the occupation to leave their homes in search of a so-called safe area where non exist in Gaza.
According to the Civil Defense, Israeli warplanes used American-made missiles that reach high temperatures of up to 7,000 degrees Celsius, causing bodies to melt and fires to rage.
All the martyrs are scattered remains, and the majority of injuries are to the upper body (head and chest), with burns of the first and second degrees, in addition to limb amputations, according to the administration of the Baptist Hospital.
This is not the only school targeted; the occupation targeted five schools in northern Gaza last week, according to the Civil Defense.
It is worth noting that the Baptist Hospital is the only one dealing with injury cases in Gaza City after the occupation destroyed Al-Shifa Hospital and rendered 25 hospitals and medical centers out of service, according to the Ministry of Health.
The Israeli occupation forces continue their aggression on the Gaza Strip, by land, air and sea, since October 7, 2023, which resulted in the martyrdom of 39,699 Palestinians, the majority of whom are children and women, and the injury of 91,722 others, in an incomplete toll, as thousands of victims are still under the rubble and on the roads, and ambulance and rescue crews cannot reach them.
Dr Asmar is a writer based in Amman covering Middle East affairs. His website is https://crossfirearabia.com/
https://countercurrents.org/2024/08/israel-kills-100-people-performing-the-dawn-prayers/
'World must stop Israel': Palestinians beg for help after Gaza massacre
Palestinian factions have strongly condemned the "horrific massacre" perpetrated by the Israeli army against displaced Palestinians seeking refuge at the Tabaeen school in the Daraj neighbourhood, central Gaza.
The attack, which targeted civilian worshipers performing fajr (dawn) prayers, killed over 100 Palestinians and injured several others.
The Islamic Jihad movement labelled the attack as a "full-fledged war crime," and said: "choosing the timing of the dawn prayer to carry out this horrific and terrible massacre confirms that the enemy had the intention to cause the largest possible number of martyrs among civilians, including children and the elderly."
The Palestinian group Hamas also issued a statement condemning the “massacre,” calling it "a severe crime against humanity.”
The movement highlighted that this incident is part of a “broader pattern of violence, including previous attacks on hospitals and residential buildings.”
Fatah spokesperson Munther Al-Hayek said the attack is "a heinous crime against displaced civilians" and called on the international community to intervene immediately.
“The blood of children cries out to the global conscience to stop the genocide being committed by Israel in Gaza,” Hayek stated.
The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) also condemned the “massacre,” arguing that “such crimes could only be committed by Israel due to the political and military backing” it receives from the US and the "deafening silence" of the international community.
The Israeli army admits responsibility for a strike that killed at least 100 people in a school housing displaced Palestinians in Gaza City, calling it a "precise strike"
A scene of carnage
Witnesses reported that three missiles targeted the prayer area turning it into a scene of carnage, with charred bodies and scattered remains.
Local civil defence officials said the Israeli military fired three missiles on the school, flattening the building. They said they have not managed to locate all the victims yet.
With the bombing of Al Tabaeen school, the total number of schools targeted by the Israeli army in Gaza City over the past week has increased to six, according to an Anadolu tally.
Palestine's media office in Gaza held Israel and the US "responsible for the massacre."
Despite appeals on Thursday from mediators, including Egypt, the US, and Qatar, to stop hostilities, reach a ceasefire, and a hostage exchange agreement, Israel persists with its deadly offensive on Gaza.
World Socialist Web Site – August 10, 2024
Threat of Middle East war on hair-trigger as Israel kills Hamas official in Lebanon,
US lifts ban on weapons sales to Saudi Arabia
By Jordan Shilton
The danger of a region-wide war in the Middle East continues to loom large, provoked by the aggressive actions of Israel and its American imperialist ally. On Friday, the Israel Defence Forces carried out the targeted killing of a Hamas official deep inside Lebanon, while a Reuters report revealed that Washington will lift a three-year ban on the sale of offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia.
The Israeli strike on a car killed Samer al-Hajj and two civilians near the Lebanese town of Sidon. Al Jazeera’s Assed Baig, reporting from southern Lebanon, commented:
Sidon is roughly just over 50km [31 miles] from Lebanon’s southern border and around 40km [25 miles] from the capital, Beirut, and what it shows is that Israel is going deeper into Lebanon.
The killing of yet another senior Hamas official makes a mockery of the far-right Netanyahu government’s claim to be interested in negotiating a ceasefire with Hamas, not to mention the posturing by its imperialist backers in favour of a ceasefire. It comes less than two weeks after the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, underscoring Israel’s deliberate policy of systematically wiping out the leadership of the organisation with which it is supposedly negotiating.
No condemnation of Israel’s assassinations has been forthcoming from Washington or the European imperialist capitals. However, they have repeatedly threatened Iran with consequences should it retaliate following Israel’s provocative act of aggression, which killed Haniyeh while he was attending the inauguration of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
This silence on the Israeli regime’s crimes is in keeping with US imperialism’s unstinting support for the genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza. The Zionist regime continues to bombard the enclave on a daily basis, killing another two journalists Friday.
The IDF also announced a major new offensive in Khan Younis Friday. According to the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees, some 70,000 people were ordered to flee by the IDF. But with Gaza’s civilian infrastructure in ruins and aid limited to starvation levels by Israel, these desperate people have nowhere to go.
Underlining Washington’s complicity in Israel’s war crimes, the State Department confirmed that no sanctions will be placed on the Netzah Yehuda unit within the IDF, which has become notorious due to the gross violations of human rights perpetrated by its overwhelmingly far-right members in the West Bank. One of the most well known cases in which the unit was implicated was the 2022 killing of an 80-year-old Palestinian with American citizenship, who was handcuffed and gagged by Netzah Yehuda members before being left to die in a car park.
Meanwhile, video evidence has emerged confirming that a group of Israeli soldiers carried out the gang rape of a Palestinian prisoner in the infamous Sde Teiman facility. Of the 10 soldiers arrested over the incident, five have already been released.
Responding to the video, far-right Finance Minister Bezalil Smotrich demanded a “criminal investigation” to determine who recorded the video, which he said had caused “tremendous damage to Israel in the world.” The systematic use of torture and horrific abuse of prisoners was documented in a report released this week titled “Welcome to hell” by the Israeli rights group Bet Selem.
Amid this ongoing barbarism, Washington issued a joint declaration with Egypt and Qatar, which have served as mediators in previous rounds of talks, calling for the recommencing of ceasefire negotiations on August 15 in Cairo. Netanyahu indicated that an Israeli delegation will travel to the Egyptian capital.
Its recent public statements notwithstanding, Washington is the most provocative actor pushing the entire Middle East towards a catastrophic conflict. Its support for the genocide has been from the outset bound up with long-standing plans for war with Iran, which American imperialism views as essential to consolidate its hegemony over the energy-rich and strategically important region. It seized on Haniyeh’s assassination to legitimise the sending of additional warships and fighter jets to the region.
The Biden administration confirmed Friday that it will release $3.5 billion for Israel to purchase US-made weapons from the $14.1 billion in supplementary funding approved by Congress in April. Washington’s announcement that it plans to resume the sale of offensive weaponry to the absolutist monarchical regime in Riyadh as soon as next week marks another step in the preparation for all-out war with Iran.
Long a regional rival of Tehran, Saudi Arabia has been cultivated by successive US administrations as an ally of Israel in a US-led anti-Iranian alliance. Last year, concerns were raised in US foreign policy circles when China brokered an agreement between Riyadh and Tehran aimed at easing tensions after the regional rivals had backed opposing sides in the wars in Yemen and Syria.
Washington views the war preparations with Iran as intimately connected to the other fronts of the global conflict in which it is engaged with the aim of subjugating its rivals in Europe and the Asia-Pacific. This rapidly escalating third world war is rooted in crisis-ridden capitalism, which is driving the major powers to engage in a new re-partition of the globe to secure their economic and geostrategic interests. In Ukraine, NATO is emerging ever more clearly as a direct party to the conflict, as shown this past week with the use of NATO military equipment by the far-right Kiev regime to launch an attack on Russian territory.
Responding to a report that Russian military personnel were in Iran to receive training on short-range Fath-360 ballistic missiles, a White House National Security Council spokesman menaced Tehran with the warning that the US and NATO “are prepared to deliver a swift and severe response if Iran were to move forward with such transfers.” Reuters reported that the two countries signed an agreement for the Iranian-made missiles, which have a range of 125 kilometres, last December.
Recognising how close the region is to all-out war, Iran’s bourgeois-clerical regime is reportedly divided over how to respond to Haniyeh’s assassination. Although the targeted killing was a humiliation for the Iranian authorities that virtually compels them to respond, Pezeshkian is reportedly trying to convince the Iranian Revolutionary Guard corps not to launch a direct strike on Israel for fear that it could trigger war. Britain’s Daily Telegraph reported that Pezeshkian would prefer instead to strike Mossad spy bases in neighbouring Azerbaijan or Iraq. Leading IRGC officials are in favour of striking military facilities in Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities in alliance with Hezbollah.
According to Iran’s Tasneem news agency, IRGC Deputy Commander Ali Fadavi declared:
The supreme leader’s orders regarding the harsh punishment of Israel and revenge for the blood of martyr Ismail Haniyeh are clear and explicit … and they will be implemented in the best possible way.
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has the power to determine Iran’s response, including by overruling Pezeshkian.
Regardless of the immediate intentions of the regime in Tehran, tensions in the region are already so high that any action could plunge the Middle East into a bloodbath. A precedent was set in April for direct attacks against each other by Israel and Tehran. After Israel bombed Iran’s Damascus consulate, killing seven senior IRGC members, Iran reacted by launching hundreds of drones towards Israel. It provided several hours notice of the attack, prompting the US and its regional allies to mobilise to intercept most of the attacking aircraft.
The urgent task of preventing all-out war in the Middle East falls to the international working class. The mass opposition expressed to Israel’s imperialist-backed genocide of the Palestinians in protests around the world over the past 10 months must be developed into a conscious movement to stop imperialist war by taking up the fight for socialism.
Informed Comment – August 8, 2024
Israeli Minister asserts that Starving 2 Million Palestinians is Morally and Legally permitted
By Juan Cole
The Israeli newspaper Arab 48 reported this week that the civil administrator of settlements in the Occupied Palestinian West Bank and the minister of finance, Bezalel Smotrich, broached the subject of whether it is legal and moral to starve over two million people to death.
Smotrich, the head of the fascist Religious Zionism Party, was addressing a conference of supporters of bringing back the Gush Katif Israel squatter-settlement on Palestinian land in Gaza, which was closed by right wing Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Smotrich said, “I did not demand that renewed settlement in Gaza be described as one of the war goals. But I am permitted to express my heart’s desires. Where there is no settlement, there is no security. The head of government says that this is not true, but I disagree with him on this issue.”
He expressed the view that Hamas cannot be destroyed from either a military and civilian point of view unless control is asserted over humanitarian aid. He blamed Netanyahu for being unwilling or unable to do so.
The monstrousness of Smotrich’s remarks can be seen if we consider that in the 1930s and 1940s, the Nazi high command also wanted to starve its battlefield enemies. The Nobel Peace Center notes,
“As Germany was planning the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, acquiring food for German soldiers was a central to their grand strategy. The minutes from Nazi meetings makes apparent what their expectation for the Soviet invasion was; millions of local civilians would likely die of hunger when German troops confiscated the food supply. This, however, was not seen as a problem. A month later, tanks rolled into Soviet territory, and proceeded with what became known as Der Hungerplan. Approximately 7 million Soviet civilians, Jews and gentiles alike, died as a consequence of Der Hungerplan.”
It should be noted that Smotrich personally sequestered grain aid trucks last spring and did not allow them to go to Gaza until Biden administration pressure caused him to release them.
Smotrich blamed Netanyahu’s civilian control over the food aid for what he saw as leniency, and implied that the military should take over.
He said it would have been desirable for the Israeli military to assume responsibility for all the aid into Gaza. He said he recognized that the aid had to go into the Strip given current world opinion.
He complained, “It is not possible in the world situation of today to administer a war.”
“No one,” Smotrich added, “will allow us to kill two million citizens with hunger — even though perhaps that is just and moral as long as they do not return the hostages — one humanitarian step for another — and that is right morally. [But] this war needs international legitimacy.” He blasted the Biden peace proposal for getting out only a few hostages and so was not just and was, indeed, a threat to national security.
Smotrich’s remarks about the possible moral and legal basis for starving two million people show how corrupt and rudderless the Israeli Right wing has become, which controls the whole contry.. There are no longer any guard rails.
https://www.juancole.com/2024/08/minister-palestinians-permitted.html
Why does the West support Israel?
By Muhittin Ataman
The West backs Tel Aviv primarily due to Zionist influence at various levels
Most Western countries have given unconditional support to Israel for its genocidal acts over the last 10 months. Western countries not only support the Israeli government economically and politically but also militarily. On the one hand, Western governments provide weapons to Israel to continue its genocidal attacks against the Palestinian people. In other words, they are directly involved in the asymmetric war in Palestine. One of the most powerful armies in the region has been supported by several of the strongest armies in the world against a small group of resistance movements.
On the other hand, they give consent to all Israeli atrocities, violations of basic human rights, war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocidal attacks against the Palestinian people. Western countries have been welcoming all Israeli violations. For instance, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahuﾒs speech before the U.S. Congress clearly indicated this support. The Congress and other American politicians welcomed Netanyahu, for whom the International Court of Justice (ICJ) requested arrest warrants for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip, like a hero. The wide applause from the U.S. lawmakers was a real disgrace. Instead of taking some effective measures against Netanyahu to stop the bloodshed in Gaza, the U.S. officials, who compete to serve Israel, have further encouraged him to continue the bloodshed.
Internally displaced Palestinian children amid Israel's attacks sit among the rubble in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Palestine, Aug. 3, 2024. (EPA Photo)
It is clear that most non-Western nations and a large section of Western peoples oppose the pro-Israeli policies of Western governments. Mainly because of the unconditional Western support for Israel, anti-Westernism is on the rise all over the world. At this point, there are several significant questions to ask. Why do Western governments give unconditional support to the apartheid regime in Israel at the expense of damaging their own national interests? There are several important reasons why Western governments support the Israeli government.
Reasons listed
The first reason is the colonial legacy. Most Western countries that have experienced colonialist policies during the last several centuries introduced the formation of Israel as one of the colonial projects at the end of the 19th century and during the first half of the 20th century. Israel is one of the most effective instruments of Western colonialism in the Middle East. Western governments and nations achieved economic prosperity and comfort at the expense of non-Western land and nations. They exploit the natural resources of the Arab world and control their economic and political systems.
The second reason is the control of the world financial market by Zionists. Zionists have controlled the financial market for the last several centuries, including the Western financial markets. Western governments are largely dependent on pro-Israeli power circles. One of the reasons why lawmakers in the U.S. Congress applauded Netanyahu was the fear of not being reelected. All observers know that pro-Israeli lobbies, who are known as the main kingmakers in the American political system, have dominated the American electoral system. Therefore, most American politicians support all Israeli policies for reelection.
The longtime comfort provided to Western people by the governments and the pro-Israeli economic lobbies at the expense of non-Western people is another reason for Western support of Israel. This factor is a continuation of Western colonialist policies. Western governments, together with the pro-Israeli lobbies, have been exploiting the resources of the colonized non-Western countries for centuries. Most Western people do not question where this wealth comes from as long as they benefit from the resources of other countries. The West, having experienced a legitimacy crisis for a while, has lost its moral superiority. Western countries have sacrificed their longtime values and institutions for the sake of the genocidal Israeli government.
Fourth, Zionists have been controlling the political system of Western countries. Most politicians are heavily dependent on pro-Israeli lobbies. Westerners have recently learned that they are largely dependent on pro-Israeli lobbies and power circles. Due to the most recent developments in the domestic politics of Western countries, it has become clear that the absolute sovereignty of most Western states is questionable. In other words, Western countries not only otherize other nations but also restrict the freedom of their own people to exonerate the Israeli government. As we have seen in the United Kingdom and the United States, Western countries have begun to suffer from political instability and political polarization.
Fifth, control of the world media platforms by the pro-Israeli circles cover up the crimes of the Israeli government. Most Western media platforms are under the direct control of pro-Israeli lobbies. The mainstream Western media outlets frame all developments from a Zionist perspective. Especially, the Western media insistently use a pro-Israeli narrative and try to whitewash Israeli war crimes. The mainstream media presents the developments on the ground and the realities upside down. Recently, social media and alternative media platforms have reduced the influence of the Western mainstream media and provided alternative information to Western audiences.
Last but not least, the administrations of Western countries have shallow personalities and are yet another reason for unconditional Western support for Israel. The most current Western politicians are quite emotional and ideological. Rationality has been pushed to the background in most Western governments, which have no strategic plans or rational calculations about recent developments in the Middle East. We hope that sooner or later, reasonable politicians and statesmen will take the helm and save the world from the coming world war.
Muhittin Ataman is a professor in the Department of International Relations at Social Sciences University of Ankara. He is also the Editor-in-Chief of Insight Turkey, published by SETA Foundation.
https://www.dailysabah.com/opinion/columns/why-does-the-west-support-israel
Bangladesh: Worries in Delhi grow if Yunus demands extradition of Hasina
By Saleem Samad
The delay in ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina seeking asylum or stay in destination to North America, the United Kingdom or Europe, has caused the elites in India’s South Block and Indian Prime Minister’s Office in New Delhi to bite their nails.
With every day passing, Delhi is getting jittery for the unwelcome VVIP guest, who arrived unnoticed on a special military flight from Dhaka to Hindon Air Base in Ghaziabad, near the Indian capital Delhi.
On August 5, Sheikh Hasina flew in a helicopter from the Prime Minister’s official residence Gonobhaban to Kurmitola Air Base. She departed on a Bangladesh Air Force C-130J transport aircraft and flew her to India.
After a safe landing at 5:45 PM, Hasina’s transport plane landed at Hindon Airbase in Ghaziabad. Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval received her upon arrival and held an hour-long meeting high-level discussion. The agenda mostly centred around the current crisis in Bangladesh and her immediate plans.
Sheikh Hasina, the longest-serving woman prime minister in the world was elected to power for a fifth term only seven months ago in January. Her uninterrupted 15-year tenure as Bangladesh’s Prime Minister came to a dramatic end on August 5, when she fled the country amidst a mass street uprising of students and also joined by millions of people.
The unrest, which began with protests over job quotas on 1 July and escalated into calls for Hasina’s resignation, reached a tipping point with violent clashes in the first week of August.
The police and ‘Helmet Bahini’, armed vigilant gangs recruited from Awami League killed at least 400 people in the streets during the Red Revolution which lasted for the last six days of the student protests.
Hasina promoted her nephew General Waker-Uz-Zaman as the chief of the Bangladesh Army keeping in mind that he would protect her and her autocratic regime.
The military chief declared Hasina’s resignation in a national broadcast and stated that the military would establish a caretaker government to restore order. He also announced the formation of an interim government.
Hasina was the first leader and head of government who fled the country to avoid the wrath of the angry students and the public.
The following day, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar convened an all-party meeting to discuss the Bangladesh crisis. The meeting was attended by Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, and Mallikarjun Kharge.
Jaishankar said the government is in a “wait-and-watch” mode, but hands-on and in touch with the Bangladesh Army. He said Sheikh Hasina’s presence in India is a courtesy move to ensure she settles down, recovers, and feels comfortable enough to discuss her plans.
He also described that Hasina is in a state of shock and the government is giving her time to recover before it speaks to her over various issues, including her plans.
Jaishankar told the Indian parliament that Hasina has “requested at very short notice” to come to India following her forced resignation as Bangladesh Prime Minister.
The parliament was informed that an estimated 19,000 Indian nationals of which about 9,000 are students. The bulk of students returned in July.
Indian foreign minister also referred to an address by Bangladesh Army chief General Waker-uz-Zaman – made last Monday, shortly after Hasina stepped down – in which he said, “I have met opposition leaders… we have decided to form an interim government…” and appealed for the violent protests to end.
The interim government headed by Nobel Laureate Dr Mohammad Yunus arrived in Dhaka in the afternoon (Thursday) and took the oath of office in the evening. He also announced a 15-member Adviser in his interim government.
For the restoration of democracy, a tentative date of election for the inventor of micro-credit will be announced. He also Earlier, in an exclusive interview with NDTV from Paris, where Yunus attended as a Special Guest at the Paris Olympics and had a minor operation a vile warning that “India’s north-east, Myanmar will be affected if Bangladesh becomes unstable.”
Yunus for the last 12 years faced several legal harassments and was even awarded six months imprisonment in a labour case.
Several times, Hasina humiliated Yunus and even said he is a “bloodsucker” and profits from exorbitant loan interests from disadvantaged rural women.
She blamed Yunus for jeopardising the financial support of the World Bank for the construction of the mega project, the Padma Bridge. In a hate speech, at the inaugural event of Padma Bridge, said she wished to dip the Nobel laureate and ailing former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia into the yawning Padma River.
Hasina has nowhere to go in the next several weeks, she will stranded in a guest house on the outskirts of Delhi and India feel embarrassed to have her for long, which possibly dent the renewed bilateral relationship between two neighbours – Bangladesh and India of emerging new government under the rule of Prof Muhammad Yunus.
Several political observers understand, that Yunus after holding the reign of Bangladesh, is likely to appeal to global leaders to urge India to deport Hasina to stand trial for crimes committed against the people during her 15 years of repressive rule.
If Delhi bigwigs do not concede to Yunus’s appeal to send back Hasina, not only bilateral relations and trade would be affected, but would also would spark an anti-India campaign resulting in a call for ‘Boycott India’ and would also more persecution against Hindus in Bangladesh, which will difficult for the interim government to neutralise.
Informed Comment – August 10, 2024
Over half of new Car sales in China in July were EVs,
as America faces threat of Falling Behind
By Juan Cole
In July, China reached an unprecedented inflection point for an industrialized society, with more electric cars purchased than internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. William Gavin at Quartz points out that 3 years ago, only 7% of cars sold in China were EVs.
Just this year, EV sales are up 37%. These statistics count both pure EVs and plug-in hybrids.
It is true that the Chinese government offers a $2,785 bonus for EV purchases. But that is less than the $7500 federal tax break Americans can receive on some models of EVs because of the Inflation Reduction Act.
The key difference, Gavin argues, is that “China invested at least $230.8 billion to develop its NEV industry between 2009 and 2023,” and $121 billion of that was put in during the past three years. This research and development program allowed the Chinese to make advances in battery technology unmatched by American engineers, which is one reason that Ford wants to partner with a Chinese firm for its planned big battery plant.
America’s capitalist model has so far failed to keep up with China’s demand economy in this sector. Only in the past couple of years has the Biden administration adopted an industrial policy that has any hope of playing catch up.
Anyway, the Chinese are presently eating America’s lunch on the EV front. Their advanced batteries and other technological breakthroughs have allowed Chinese firms to offer EVs at an average price of $34,400, as opposed to the $55,242 average cost of an EV in the US.
In fact, BYD, the biggest EV maker, is planning to offer a $15,000 EV in 2024. The plug-in hybrid version of the new platform is even less expensive, at $11,000. This platform is an ICE-slayer.
BYD is hoping to get an agreement by the end of this year from Mexico on opening a manufacturing plant there. The cars it makes in that country would be eligible under NAFTA for special access to the US market, unless Congress makes a law targeting this one company. The US Big Three automakers are petrified of this plan, since BYD’s inexpensive EVs have great range.
That is, the Chinese advances in green transportation could position that country to dominate the world automobile market and deindustrialize its rivals. For this reason, Europe has slapped high tariffs on Chinese EVs, but Beijing is appealing this move to the World Trade Organization.
https://www.juancole.com/2024/08/america-falling-behind.html
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