Do you want a Kool-Aid with that, Huawei? You'll need one after watching boss chat to US mavens

Huawei's public relations onslaught continued today with a "panel discussion" between the company's founder Ren Zhenfei, blockchain blowhard George Gilder and MIT Media Lab co-founder and non-stop tech panellist Nicholas Negroponte. It was a strange mixture of a terrible TED discussion and the outlining of a Communist Party …

[Semtex451]

"strange mixture of a terrible TED discussion and the outlining of a Communist Party Five-Year Plan"

The latter part could be considered progress, but the article does not say what that outline looks like.

Please don't make us watch the whole thing if it was a pointless meeting, we waste enough time with those as it is.

[steelpillow]

Says it all, really

"Donald Trump has already said that he would reconsider his administration's ban on the firm if China signed a trade deal, so the issue is clearly not really one of national security."

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Says it all, really

Given the shite that tumbles out of Don Cheeto's pie hole on a depressingly regular basis, I suspect a lot of people came to that particular conclusion right at the outset.

[Sloppy Crapmonster]

Re: Says it all, really

Up until 2016, anyone with half a brain thought of him as a harmless buffoon. After 2016, he's a weaponized Zaphod Beeblebrox.

[Nick Kew]

Re: Says it all, really

Heh. Most topical here in Blighty, where we have our own BeebleBozzer. I wonder if that could be made to stick? Talk about two-headed, and upvote for the thought!

[DJO]

Re: Says it all, really

Well obviously.

Huawei have about a 2 year technological lead on US companies in the 5G marketplace, it's market manipulation plain, simple and obvious.

As for security issues while Huawei might be compromised, you can be 100% certain that Cisco is completely in the pocket of the American security services.

[Mark 85]

Re: Says it all, really

It never was about security except to the target audience (voter base) for his pronouncements. It's about the trade war and leverage and making an example. Just another dog and pony show....

[Anonymous Coward]

Or worse

It indicates that Trump believes national security is something open to negotiation.

[Aladdin Sane]

Co founded the MIT Media Lab, not MIT itself.

[sanmigueelbeer]

In the meantime, Huawei's major suppliers of US-made chips, Intel and Qualcomm, is quietly lobbying for the easing of the ban.

(Let me hazard a guess, because it will affect their bottom line.)

[Yes Me]

quietly lobbying

Let me fix that for you:

"[China's] major suppliers of US-made [anything are] quietly lobbying for the easing of the ban."

Donald doesn't understand international trade or the elementary fact that free trade made the USA rich. His trade policies, and not only with China, are helping to make the USA poor again. It will take firm action by the next US president to reverse all these disastrous decisions. Huawei is only one victim.

[Jtom]

True story.

I was once in a small meeting with Negroponte (the company I worked for helped fund his Media Lab). I made a rather simple observation of how telecommunications were evolving and why. No one commented, and I went back to my reticent ways.

A week or two later he gave a talk to a group which included Guilder, and he repeated that observation. Guilder grabbed it and dubbed it the Negroponte Switch.

I didn’t get the credit (to his credit, in an interview he said he didn’t originate the idea, but could not remember where he had heard it), but I gained confidence. No one listened to me at that company, but he had. I left for another job, and moved straight up the ladder. Funny how life works out.

[Snorlax]

So Wait?

As Europeans, are we for Huawei now? Or against?

I can't keep track...

[Nick Kew]

Re: So Wait?

Why would you be either for or against? Unless you work for a telco and are evaluating or working with (prospective) suppliers, in which case it's your professional business.

Oh, right. It's because they've been unfairly attacked by a powerful bully. Yes, under that circumstance I'll side with and defend anyone. From Corbyn to Trump via all kinds of thoroughly unpleasant characters like Farage or Galloway. Or even Assange if he gets banged up in the US.

[Andy The Hat]

Re: So Wait?

We're clearly and positively for being against, depending if His Tweetyness says so or not at the time.

I think that makes it all clear ...