Using our website
You may use the The Middle Land website subject to the Terms and Conditions set out on this page. Visit this page regularly to check the latest Terms and Conditions. Access and use of this site constitutes your acceptance of the Terms and Conditions in-force at the time of use.
Intellectual property
Names, images and logos displayed on this site that identify The Middle Land are the intellectual property of New San Cai Inc. Copying any of this material is not permitted without prior written approval from the owner of the relevant intellectual property rights.
Requests for such approval should be directed to the competition committee.
Please provide details of your intended use of the relevant material and include your contact details including name, address, telephone number, fax number and email.
Linking policy
You do not have to ask permission to link directly to pages hosted on this website. However, we do not permit our pages to be loaded directly into frames on your website. Our pages must load into the user’s entire window.
The Middle Land is not responsible for the contents or reliability of any site to which it is hyperlinked and does not necessarily endorse the views expressed within them. Linking to or from this site should not be taken as endorsement of any kind. We cannot guarantee that these links will work all the time and have no control over the availability of the linked pages.
Submissions
All information, data, text, graphics or any other materials whatsoever uploaded or transmitted by you is your sole responsibility. This means that you are entirely responsible for all content you upload, post, email or otherwise transmit to the The Middle Land website.
Virus protection
We make every effort to check and test material at all stages of production. It is always recommended to run an anti-virus program on all material downloaded from the Internet. We cannot accept any responsibility for any loss, disruption or damage to your data or computer system, which may occur while using material derived from this website.
Disclaimer
The website is provided ‘as is’, without any representation or endorsement made, and without warranty of any kind whether express or implied.
Your use of any information or materials on this website is entirely at your own risk, for which we shall not be liable. It is your responsibility to ensure any products, services or information available through this website meet your specific requirements.
We do not warrant the operation of this site will be uninterrupted or error free, that defects will be corrected, or that this site or the server that makes it available are free of viruses or represent the full functionality, accuracy and reliability of the materials. In no event will we be liable for any loss or damage including, without limitation, loss of profits, indirect or consequential loss or damage, or any loss or damages whatsoever arising from the use, or loss of data, arising out of – or in connection with – the use of this website.
Last Updated: September 11, 2024
New San Cai Inc. (hereinafter “The Middle Land,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) owns and operates www.themiddleland.com, its affiliated websites and applications (our “Sites”), and provides related products, services, newsletters, and other offerings (together with the Sites, our “Services”) to art lovers and visitors around the world.
This Privacy Policy (the “Policy”) is intended to provide you with information on how we collect, use, and share your personal data. We process personal data from visitors of our Sites, users of our Services, readers or bloggers (collectively, “you” or “your”). Personal data is any information about you. This Policy also describes your choices regarding use, access, and correction of your personal information.
If after reading this Policy you have additional questions or would like further information, please email at middleland@protonmail.com.
PERSONAL DATA WE COLLECT AND HOW WE USE IT
We collect and process personal data only for lawful reasons, such as our legitimate business interests, your consent, or to fulfill our legal or contractual obligations.
Information You Provide to Us
Most of the information Join Talents collects is provided by you voluntarily while using our Services. We do not request highly sensitive data, such as health or medical information, racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, etc. and we ask that you refrain from sending us any such information.
Here are the types of personal data that you voluntarily provide to us:
As a registered users or customers, you may ask us to review or retrieve emails sent to your business. We will access these emails to provide these services for you.
We use the personal data you provide to us for the following business purposes:
Information Obtained from Third-Party Sources
We collect and publish biographical and other information about users, which we use to promote the articles and our bloggers who use our sites. If you provide personal information about others, or if others give us your information, we will only use that information for the specific reason for which it was provided.
Information We Collect by Automated Means
Log Files
The site uses your IP address to help diagnose server problems, and to administer our website. We use your IP addresses to analyze trends and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use.
Every time you access our Site, some data is temporarily stored and processed in a log file, such as your IP addresses, the browser types, the operating systems, the recalled page, or the date and time of the recall. This data is only evaluated for statistical purposes, such as to help us diagnose problems with our servers, to administer our sites, or to improve our Services.
Do Not Track
Your browser or device may include “Do Not Track” functionality. Our information collection and disclosure practices, and the choices that we provide to customers, will continue to operate as described in this Privacy Policy, whether or not a “Do Not Track” signal is received.
HOW WE SHARE YOUR INFORMATION
We may share your personal data with third parties only in the ways that are described in this Privacy Policy. We do not sell, rent, or lease your personal data to third parties, and We does not transfer your personal data to third parties for their direct marketing purposes.
We may share your personal data with third parties as follows:
There may be other instances where we share your personal data with third parties based on your consent.
HOW WE STORE AND SECURE YOUR INFORMATION
We retain your information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you Services. If you wish to cancel your account, please contact us middleland@protonmail.com. We will retain and use your personal data as necessary to comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements.
All you and our data are stored in the server in the United States, we do not sales or transfer your personal data to the third party. All information you provide is stored on a secure server, and we generally accepted industry standards to protect the personal data we process both during transmission and once received.
YOUR RIGHTS/OPT OUT
You may correct, update, amend, delete/remove, or deactivate your account and personal data by making the change on your Blog on www.themiddleland.com or by emailing middleland@protonmail.com. We will respond to your request within a reasonable timeframe.
You may choose to stop receiving Join Talents newsletters or marketing emails at any time by following the unsubscribe instructions included in those communications, or you can email us at middleland@protonmail.com
LINKS TO OTHER WEBSITES
The Middle Land include links to other websites whose privacy practices may differ from that of ours. If you submit personal data to any of those sites, your information is governed by their privacy statements. We encourage you to carefully read the Privacy Policy of any website you visit.
NOTE TO PARENTS OR GUARDIANS
Our Services are not intended for use by children, and we do not knowingly or intentionally solicit data from or market to children under the age of 18. We reserve the right to delete the child’s information and the child’s registration on the Sites.
PRIVACY POLICY CHANGES
We may update this Privacy Policy to reflect changes to our personal data processing practices. If any material changes are made, we will notify you on the Sites prior to the change becoming effective. You are encouraged to periodically review this Policy.
HOW TO CONTACT US
If you have any questions about our Privacy Policy, please email middleland@protonmail.com
The Michelin brothers created the guide, which included information like maps, car mechanics listings, hotels and petrol stations across France to spur demand.
The guide began to award stars to fine dining restaurants in 1926.
At first, they offered just one star, the concept was expanded in 1931 to include one, two and three stars. One star establishments represent a “very good restaurant in its category”. Two honour “excellent cooking, worth a detour” and three reward “exceptional cuisine, worth a
Thank you for your participation,
please Log in or Sign up to Vote
123Sign in to your account
Weakest Link for EV’s Is in China’s Supply Chain
Rare earth elements on a map of China. (Photo:© Tanaonte/Dreamstime.com)
251 Views
251 Views
By Staff Middle Land
By Larry Bell
Federal and state energy policies now pushing electric vehicles on a reluctant public are running in conflict with other social and environmental restrictions banning vital materials and component imports.
As consequences, U.S. and European auto companies are racing into Chinese rare earth monopoly and other supply traps posing inevitable economic and national security threats.
American EV consumers who ride along will be left in a ditch along with dealers who lack essential inventory and profitable markets.
This is already occurring.
U.S. customs officials have seized thousands of German Volkswagens over a single part made in China’s Xinjiang region believed to be in violation of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) which requires importers to provide evidence that their goods were not produced with forced labor in order to avoid penalties.
The German company is a joint venture partner with Chinese-owned SAIC Motors which owns a factory in Xinjing’s capital, Urumqi.
Volkswagen was previously linked to such a violation when the German newspaper Handelsblatt reportedly obtained photographs showing Uyghur workers in military uniforms during the three-year construction of a car-testing track.
As reported in the Financial Times, U.S. authorities have also impounded and are investigating luxury brands produced by Porsche, Bently and Audi over suspected UFPLA violations involving electronic components, resulting in delivery delays of uncertain length.
A recent Human Rights Watch report has also warned that carmakers including Tesla, General Motors, Volkswagen and Toyota are failing to ensure they aren’t using aluminum produced by Uyghur forced labor.
Aluminum is used extensively in EV manufacture as a mileage economy measure to compensate for heavy battery weight.
Whereas Tesla owns a factory in Shanghai that builds cars for both Chinese and international markets, they had reportedly tracked its supply chain back to the mining level without evidence of forced labor.
Then factor in influences of new and existing environmental regulations influencing rare earth mining and processing for batteries which represent a major EV cost.
Biden administration anti-drilling and pro-EV policies have made America increasingly dependent on rare earth minerals mined for those batteries under atrocious slave labor and environmental conditions bureaucrats ignore.
China controls a stranglehold monopoly of about 80% of the global supply, with Congo a 90% source of vital cobalt.
As a consequence, Mountain Pass in California, the sole remaining operational U.S. rare earth mine which lost two years of production due to a 2016 bankruptcy, incredulously continues to send its mined ore to China for processing.
Expect those battery costs to escalate in concert with increased global demands for nickel — a primary component of lithium-ion cathodes — having already risen over six years from $10,336 per metric ton in August 2016 to $16,104 currently.
Purchasers should consider that with a Tesla battery typically costing about $10,000, their resale price will likely have to be significantly higher than that of a comparably aged and sized internal combustion model in similar condition.
Also expect that on the resale end, an average on-the-road 12-year-old used EV will be on its second or third new battery before an owner can sell it.
Ford, Toyota, Volkswagen, Honda, Nissan, and Subaru have meanwhile all had to adjust new model sales prices upward due to the scarcity of semiconductors, a supply condition that will only become more precarious if and when government- mandated EV numbers multiply.
Currently, despite huge auto investments and government subsidies, this isn’t happening.
As reported in The Wall Street Journal, in September of last year it took retailers over two months to sell an EV, compared with around a month for gas-powered vehicles and only three weeks for a gas-electric hybrid.
Falling demand and rising prices have prompted Ford to cut previously planned 2024 production of its F-150 electric truck in half after losing $60,000 on each EV sold, while also pausing construction of a $3.5 billion battery plant in Michigan.
Facing similar realities, General Motors has said it will delay opening a planned large EV truck factory in Michigan by a year, citing a need “to better manage capital investments while aligning with evolving EV demand.”
This slowdown and resulting industry business losses are occurring both despite and in addition to generous $7,500 federal tax credit subsidies offered as EV incentives to reluctant buyers and jacked up costs for gasoline models consumers truly want to keep vehicle manufacturers financially afloat.
Consequentially, China isn’t the only EV supply chain threat.
A 2024 political climate change returning the presidency and Congress to Republican control will hopefully replace that EV subsidy supply chain with free market choices that will end the greatest threat of all — Biden and Beijing influence over what we buy and drive.
Larry Bell is an endowed professor of space architecture at the University of Houston where he founded the Sasakawa International Center for Space Architecture and the graduate space architecture program. His latest of 12 books is “Architectures Beyond Boxes and Boundaries: My Life By Design” (2022).
Original article: Newsmax
Tag
China electric vehicles rare earths Supply Chain
More on this topic
More Stories
China Stock Market Stalls for Lack of Further Stimulus Measures
TAIPEI, Taiwan —China’s stock rally resumed Tuesday after the weeklong National Day holiday but lost some steam on mainland markets after a press conference by the country’s economic planning agency disappointed hopes for more fiscal stimulus measures. In Hong Read more
AI, Society, and Democracy: Just Relax
The author argues that law and regulation have never diagnosed and prevented social, political, and economic ills of new technology. AI is no different. AI regulation poses a greater threat to democracy than AI, as governments are anxious to Read more
Nearly 24M Immigrants Eligible to Vote in US Election (Video)
In the United States, nearly 24 million immigrants are eligible to vote in November’s presidential election, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. census data. VOA’s Jeff Swicord spoke with two naturalized citizens about the choices they Read more
Cancel anytime
Latest Articles
China Stock Market Stalls for Lack of Further Stimulus Measures
Painting Anime: Syzygy of the Sun, Moon, and the Five Planets
AI, Society, and Democracy: Just Relax
Stupendously Large: How Big Can Black Holes Get?
Nearly 24M Immigrants Eligible to Vote in US Election (Video)
Two Years in the Forbidden City (At the Palace-A Luncheon With the Empress)
Trending
China Stock Market Stalls for Lack of Further Stimulus Measures
Painting Anime: Syzygy of the Sun, Moon, and the Five Planets
AI, Society, and Democracy: Just Relax
Stupendously Large: How Big Can Black Holes Get?
Nearly 24M Immigrants Eligible to Vote in US Election (Video)
Two Years in the Forbidden City (At the Palace-A Luncheon With the Empress)
Top Products
NEW SAN CAI – CHILDREN (4TH ISSUE)
$18.99
$18.99
Middle Land – European Roots and The American Dream
$25.00
$25.00
Middle Land – Decoding Traditions in the Heart of Silicon Valley
$25.00
$25.00
Middle Land – A Crash Course on the Chinese New Year
$25.00
$25.00