gallium

  What is gallium?

Gallium is a chemical element with the symbol Ga and atomic number 31. It’s a soft, silvery metal that sits in group 13 of the periodic table, below aluminum.

  Is it a rare earth?

No, gallium is not a rare earth element. It’s a metal in group 13 of the periodic table, classified as a post-transition metal, alongside aluminum and indium. 

  What is it used for?

Electronics: Gallium arsenide and gallium nitride are vital for semiconductors in LEDs, solar cells, 5G telecom, and high-frequency circuits. For example, gallium-based chips power smartphones, satellites, and military radar systems.

  Where does it comes from?

China ~90% (630 metric tons)

Russia ~5% (35 metric tons)

Japan ~3% (21 metric tons)

South Korea ~1% (7 metric tons)

  What kind of ore is it found in?

Bauxite, Primary source (~95%) Aluminum ore; contains 10–50 ppm gallium.

NED fomenting revolutions

 https://www.borderlens.com/2025/10/03/american-hand-in-nepals-gen-z-revolt-following-the-money-and-reading-the-signs/

The National Endowment for Democracy (NED), an American foundation established by Congress in 1983 to provide funding to democracy-building efforts overseas, steps into the spotlight of this investigation. Its FY2024 Asia Grant Listings provide dazzling details. A $65,000 grant with the title Promoting Youth Civic Engagement and Movement Building was allotted to set up youth centers of civic education and outreach. Another, very much bigger, $135,000 entry funded Strengthening Youth Participation in Advocacy and Reform Campaigns, with specific allocations to training and coordination of young democracy movement activists. A $20,000 grant concentrated on Developing New Media Strategies in Support of Democracy and Human Rights, training young influencers on digital security and platform usage, while connecting global networks across boundaries.

In the meantime, $71,250 was spent on Strengthening Media Coverage of Democracy Issues to widen digital reporting and video coverage of governance and rights. Lastly, another round of $65,000 was aimed at Facilitating Access to Justice for Human Rights Defenders, establishing online legal support centers and documentation mechanisms. In addition to these, the Asia infographic within the FY24 pages of NED showed Nepal’s overall allotment to amount to $1,741,377, a substantial amount within the context of its limited civic space.

None of these entries say “regime change” outright. But when mapped against what unfolded in September, the overlap is striking. Discord-based organizing cells echo the movement building workshops. Viral protest videos mirror the new media strategies grants. Polished livestreams and citizen documentaries recall the strengthened media coverage line items. The digital safety trainings resonate with encrypted messaging groups that sustained protest communication. Taken together, these grants look less like unrelated workshops and more like scaffolding for a movement, quietly assembled and ready to be activated once a crisis broke.

Fauci funded GOF

https://nypost.com/2023/06/14/us-taxpayers-funded-2-million-for-research-in-wuhan-report/

Trade wars

 

https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/brazilian-soybeans-and-chinas-food-security/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1910197874693976503.html

ICE Raid on Hyundai 2

https://www.savannahnow.com/story/news/2025/09/17/trip-tollison-shares-thoughts-on-hyundai-raid/86171344007/

Tollison said it is imperative they come back, as South Koreans who work for Hyundai Motor Company are the only ones who can install and teach future employees how to use the technology there, such as battery cell equipment.

“You have sophisticated, talented South Koreans here installing battery equipment,” said Tollison. “The frustration, and I feel it too, is that there's no other entity in the world that has this proprietary technology that has to be installed by certain individuals. We are relying on South Korea.”

“It's a minor setback,” said Tollison. “We have all the confidence in the world that they're going to continue to get back on schedule as fast as possible. The agreement is still intact.”

https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2025-11-11/national/diplomacy/Koreans-detained-in-Georgia-battery-plant-raid-preparing-class-action-lawsuit-against-ICE/2441737

https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2025-11-01/business/industry/Trump-to-prioritize-new-manufacturing-visas-to-safeguard-Korean-workers-Georgia-Gov/2434005

https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2025-09-06/national/diplomacy/Trump-defends-immigration-raid-at-HyundaiLG-battery-plant-in-Georgia/2392929

“They were illegal aliens and ICE was just doing its job,” Trump told reporters at the White House, adding he had heard about it just before the news conference.

https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2025-09-07/business/industry/ICE-raid-surfaces-risks-as-Korea-Inc-eyes-largescale-investment-in-United-States/2393302

Korean workers face hurdles in obtaining professional work visas such as H-1B, intracompany transfer visas like L-1 and E-2 or short-term business visas like B-1. 

Acquiring a B-1 visa takes at least 100 days, and smaller subcontractors face even greater difficulties than large contractors due to employment requirements. 

The U.S. State Department said 27.8 percent of B-1 visa applications were rejected last year, meaning more than one in four applicants were turned away after waiting months.

Industry groups have called for a dedicated work visa quota for Korean professionals. The Korea International Trade Association and Korean firms have proposed creating 15,000 E-4 visas annually, similar to quotas already in place for other countries. Australia has 10,500, Singapore 5,400 and Chile 1,400 — but Korea currently has none.

“Visa issues are not something companies can resolve on their own — they require government-to-government talks,” said Chang Sang-sik, head of the International Trade Research Institute at the Korea International Trade Association. “The U.S. government needs to resolve visa bottlenecks for essential personnel if it wants Korean investment projects to proceed smoothly.”

https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2025-10-15/business/industry/A-month-after-ICE-raid-and-detention-LG-Energy-is-bringing-workers-back-to-Georgia/2420786

Industry insiders said uncertainty over business visas has eased after a Korea-U. S. working group confirmed that holders of short-term B-1 visas or Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) permits are authorized to perform installation, inspection and maintenance work at U.S. battery plants.

 The U.S. State Department and U.S. Embassy in Seoul published a fact sheet on Oct. 4, clarifying that both B-1 and ESTA holders can legally perform such activities.

Thoughts on Mao

I was taught a long time ago that Mao was the greatest killer in human history.

Yet I continue to see most of the nation of China continue to revere him. Do they know something that I don't know?

1. He defeated the KMT who only survived by running away. His followers must have thought there was value in his message, value worth dying for. I believe part of his message was that government must serve the people. Is that a bad thing?

2. He started The Great Leap Forward. I was taught he was a stupid man who told Chinese to melt down their cookware and farm equipment. That may have happened in some villages but the long term goal was absolutely correct. China now makes steel and ships. Never again will Japanese roam China cutting off Chinese heads as they did in Nanking. China can now fight back. He had a vision and carried it out.

3. He started the Cultural Revolution which did have some terrible excesses. But after 5000 years of Chinese history and dynasties which weakened the nation and allowed invaders to ravage China over and over, it was time for a change. Now China is the only nation in the world that even America can not bully.

4. One Child Policy. I saw a documentary about how bad it was. But what about the hard times it prevented. No one talks about that but you can surely believe that famine and anarchy are even worse than being limited to one child. Again, if you poll the Chinese, I suspect most of them accept that OCP was the right policy for the time.

5. I think Mao was involved in encouraging a culture that valued human capital. So that education was universal. No matter how poor the village. No matter how remote. Every child, boy and girl, received a free education and a good lunch at school.

6. I grew up in Florida and was taught that Democracy was the best starting in elementary school. Yet I keep seeing American government doing stupid things. Over and over. Now I understand that democracy puts power in the hands of the most popular. While China requires a high level of education and proven intelligence (verified by hard exams) to start at the lowest level. Promotion only after years of experience and proven ability. This is why China can do multi-decade projects like rare earths.

Do you honestly think China would be better off with their versions of Newsom, Harris, Biden and Trump? How many American politicians could pass an algebra class. How many voters? This is why our energy grid is in such terrible shape. Democracy.

Tibet before China

 https://www.nytimes.com/1979/12/09/archives/journey-to-tibet-hidden-splendors-of-an-exiled-deity.html#

The monks ruled through fear. Tibetans lived in terror of the “Yidaz,” or demons, depicted in the temples by images of monsters with big stomachs and wearing necklaces of human skulls. The Yidaz infested not only the earth but also all of the 18 hells that awaited sinners. All bad deeds, which included disrespect of the monkhood and the nobility, and the refusal to pay taxes, were not only punished on earth by whipping, eye gouging and maiming, but also in the 18 hells. These hells included eight hot ones, where people were tortured by boiling and by fire, and eight cold ones, where they were frozen by various ingenious methods. Suicide was no escape, for that led one to the worst hell of all — there, people were torn apart and rejoined and torn apart again, forever and ever.

Most Tibetans over 30 are still illiterate, because there were no public schools until the 1960's. The idea of sending a peasant child to lay school was as inconceivable as sending a yak to college. There is now free education for all children, but it is still difficult, in rural areas, to persuade the parents to send their children to school.

In Tibet, the so‐called legal practices were often barbaric. No civil law governed the treatment of the serfs or peasants, who were considered property of the monasteries and landowners. Later we visited the museum in Lhasa to see an exhibit of the horrors found in the dungeons. On display were the gruesome instruments of torture that were found. The hideous evidence includes severed hands, pickled human heads, boxes of thighbones and skulls, and skins of children flayed alive as sacrifices. Ghastly photos show starved and mutilated victims.

Now the thought of the dungeons beneath the splendor threw the Potala into a sinister light. We entered an eerie cavern. As our eyes adjusted to the darkness, we could see the vibrating golden hues emanating from jewelled Buddhas on all sides. The mystery of it all was enhanced by the grotesque shadows cast by the guardian ogres, monsters and fiends. Climbing up, we arrived at the “Temple of the Guardian of the Law,” intended to teach “impermanence and suffering,” where the shrine was decorated by fearsome deities presiding over sadistic scenes of death and mutilation.