Thousands of tons of coal from wyoming is shipped via rail to minnesota, and transferred to river barges for distribution for domestic use, as well as loaded into ocean going freighters in Duluth, mn. And New Orleans, la.

I will check, but I know that at one time China purchased coal that was shipped across the Pacific.

California State politicians started putting restrictions on shipping coal thru California seaports, and I believe, but haven’t checked, that Washington and Oregon also tried to end Coal transport.

The legislation war against coal was starting in the 1990’s and hasn’t stopped since.

uS coal sales to China jumped after 2008 when China started boycotting Australia Coal. (Its political, so you would have to get Web Mom to change the prohibition vs politics in order for me to be more detailed.)

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, December 25, 2024 - 10:54 pm: Edit

Chinese coal production and coal imports both hit record highs in 2024.

By MarkSHoyle (Bolo) on Thursday, December 26, 2024 - 12:54 am: Edit

Chinese coal production and coal imports both hit record highs in 2024.

Doesn't appear US Olympic athletes will agree to participate in China anymore, if the IOC actually selects China anytime soon....

By Ken Kazinski (Kjkazinski) on Thursday, December 26, 2024 - 08:17 am: Edit

Mike - not sure I agree with "The Philippines refused to renew our leases, so we left."

The Philippine government asked for $1B for the base lease, there was a volcanic eruption and lastly the Soviet Union collapse. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, it was determined that need to project power into Asia was not worth the cost the PI government was asking for rent.

By Carl-Magnus Carlsson (Hardcore) on Thursday, December 26, 2024 - 12:41 pm: Edit

Breaking news! The Chinese unveils new heavy stealth jet. It is a three engine tailless delta wing design.
Photos and videos on The War Zone web site, and twitter ofc.

By Mike Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Thursday, December 26, 2024 - 02:23 pm: Edit

Ken, yep all the above compounded into one big thing.

But the US wanted to keep the bases and sentiment in the Philippines was that we should pay a lot for the privledge. They had the right to ask for the big bucks and we had the right to walk away.

Much like Cuba wants us out, but the Philippines wasn't stuck with the old lease. IIRC the US actually paid Cuba in gold coins for a while

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Thursday, December 26, 2024 - 05:53 pm: Edit

SVC: valid point.

However, production of coal in China in 2024, according to several sources varies between 4.66 billion tons, and 4.71 billion tons.

Consumption of Coal has been forecast to exceed 4.95 billion tons.

Simple subtraction 4.95-4.71=0.24 .

Or to express it a different way. 240 hundred million tons.

The problem, which the Chinese actively discourage reporting on, is that the Chinese actually buy more coal from foreign suppliers than the shortfall in coal production would seem to indicate.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Thursday, December 26, 2024 - 06:00 pm: Edit

US exports 1.1 million tons of coal in 2024, of which china purchased 6.45 million tons, other nations the rest of the tonnage.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Thursday, December 26, 2024 - 06:06 pm: Edit

Indonesia exports in 2024 is forcast to exceed 220 million tons of coal.
it turns out, Australia has started selling coal to China again. 52.45 million tons in 2024.

And there are lots of countries that export coal.

By Carl-Magnus Carlsson (Hardcore) on Thursday, December 26, 2024 - 11:25 pm: Edit

Correction: the Chinese have showed TWO new tailless designs in flight. Unconfirmed reports assign the twin engine design to the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation, while the first, larger three engine design belong to Chengdu.


Pentagon is still pondering whether or not to build their next gen fighters but the Chinese just build them.

By Mike Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Friday, December 27, 2024 - 10:54 am: Edit

Question is whether the Chinese stuff (like the Russian stuff) works.

By Jean Sexton Beddow (Jsexton) on Friday, December 27, 2024 - 12:16 pm: Edit

Gator Warning: Cutesy nicknames for political figures don't work from this point forward.

Jean
WebMom

By Mike Erickson (Mike_Erickson) on Friday, December 27, 2024 - 12:43 pm: Edit

>> Question is whether the Chinese stuff (like the Russian stuff) works

Also, can the prototypes be mass produced and then logistically be made ready for real combat deployment?

--Mike

By MarkSHoyle (Bolo) on Friday, December 27, 2024 - 01:40 pm: Edit

One of China's main issues with aircraft, has been the lackluster performance of Russian designed Jet Engines...
They have been working on that problem for several decades, no idea how they have fared to this point....

By Gregory S Flusche (Vandar) on Friday, December 27, 2024 - 02:16 pm: Edit

I remember as a kid. (late 60's early 70's) when we would get stopped by a coal train in Norfolk VA. We would just shut off the engine and wait for the huge tarin to pass by. Do not see that any more at all.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, December 27, 2024 - 03:39 pm: Edit

Politics. Canadian ones, yes, but politics.

Allie particularly liked the Texan meat flavored with maple.

Jean
WebMom

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Saturday, December 28, 2024 - 12:35 am: Edit

There appears to be a common thread between the Philippines,Panama, Greenland.

China has expressed interest In all three.

Panama has accepted money from China as a part of the belt and Road initiative. Panama, as is typical in certain central and South American nations accepted all it could get, and there are indications that the Government of Panama is corrupt.

If China could occupy the country, or almost as bad, move a garrison into Panama, there would be little The U.S.A. could do short of War.

In the case of Greenland, it was on “china’s Wish list” but with a small population few large cities, and small need of infrastructure improvements there was little China could do with or for Greenland

The concern is Greenland sells or leases access to its vast resources for China to exploit, and again, with troops in occupation, little the U.S.A. could do after wards short of war.

In the Philippines, they were an early customer for the belt and road initiative, but China’s policy in the South China Sea quickly soured any cooperation between China and the Philippines .

With the growing possibility of war breaking out in the South China Sea the Philippines started looking for Allies. Japan has supplied several ships to reinforce the Philippines navy, Australia has leased the former Cavite Naval Base, and has publicly announced that there will be further cooperation, though details are sparse.

The U.S. may just pick up the lease for the former Clark Air Force base, informally to be sure, but definitely not for $1b USD.

The US started renovating the old WW2 air bases on Tinian island (famed bases of B-29 bombers during WW2).

Note most of these items long predate the last Presidential election, so has no direct link to any political figure with a cutesy nick name.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Sunday, December 29, 2024 - 07:05 am: Edit

The last time this came up, Greenlanders made it very clear that they live in a pristine arctic wilderness and no resources there will ever be exploited.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Sunday, December 29, 2024 - 02:26 pm: Edit

The chinese could always furlough a couple of divisions of the Peoples Liberation Army to Canada, Iceland and Greenland for summer vacation, go camping for two weeks in greenland, and simply “proclaim” victory of the PeoplesRevolution in Greenland.

If they make the case that the soldiers are “undocumented migrants” they could win any case in the World Court, the Hague or any civil or criminal court case in New York.

Possession being 9/10th of the law, they might even prevail.

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Sunday, December 29, 2024 - 04:54 pm: Edit

Hence why with the large areas, the Greenland 'Military' forces will buy various large drones, partrol craft and 'Dog Teams'*.

With more patrols they can monitor who is arriving.

* - I am guessing Dog Teams remain the most reliable 'extended patrol' forces available?

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Sunday, December 29, 2024 - 06:12 pm: Edit

I would think drones are better than dogs. Faster moving, easier to redeploy.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Sunday, December 29, 2024 - 06:37 pm: Edit

Don’t have to feed and water drones, charge, yes.

Drones do not (as a rule) have attitude.

As the old saying goes, it is not the size of the dog that is important in a fight. What is important, is the size of the fight in the dog that matters.

By Mike Curtis (Nashvillen) on Sunday, December 29, 2024 - 06:57 pm: Edit

UAV batteries are not nearly as efficient in extreme cold.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Sunday, December 29, 2024 - 11:41 pm: Edit

It gets cold up north. Canada, Greenland and Iceland. Guess the drones will need special insulation. Do drones wear long john underwear?

By Mike Curtis (Nashvillen) on Monday, December 30, 2024 - 09:17 am: Edit

The enterprise level batteries have a built in resister panel that will heat the battery to a level needed for operation, but it pulls from the available power from the battery. This limits its flight time, noticeably.