Final Word from Tuesday, March 26, 2019

Does anyone really doubt that Huawei is able to offer its telecoms equipment for so cheap because the People's Liberation Army considers the price difference to be an off-budget military expense? Isn't it just a 21st-century update of the "Art of War"? A general willing to send men into battle but not to spend 100 pieces of gold on spies is not a general of the people, Sun Tsu wrote. In his 2020 budget proposal, Donald Trump is asking for $9.6bn for cyber operations at the Dept. of Defense, which is four times more than the entire Czech defense budget. Trump's emphasis on cyber offense and cyber defense puts Andrej Babiš in a unique position. His government is about to decide on buying old-time military hardware and is at the same time one of Trump's few staunch supporters against Huawei. Why shouldn't Babiš demand that any money spent to exclude Huawei be counted toward the NATO 2% defense commitment? The price difference is in effect a defense expense, isn't it? [ Czech Republic China cybersecurity NÚKIB ]