"for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose."

Philippians 2:13

A world divided by 5G: Russia's Huawei deal is the latest sign of an emerging internet iron curtain

This could be a significant move for China to win the so-called science and technology cold war.

From CNN:

On Wednesday, Huawei signed a deal with Russia's largest telecoms operator MTS to develop 5G technologies and launch a fifth-generation network in Russia within the next year.

It comes as China approved its first batch of 5G licensing for commercial use, unveiling, in the words of state media, "a new era for the telecom industry." Huawei will be deeply involved in that effort, adding to the more than 45 commercial 5G contracts the firm has signed in 30 countries around the world.

That isn't as many as it should have, however. Finland's Nokia signed 12 new 5G contracts in the last two months, compared to just three for Huawei. That's despite Huawei being considered by many in the industry to be the world leader when it comes to 5G, and able to undercut its rivals considerably on pricing.

The Shenzhen-based firm has found itself on the front line of the escalating trade war between the US and China. One of its top executives has been detained in Canada on US charges, its been locked out of the US market, and Washington has put increasing pressure on allies to take action against the firm as well.

As countries continue to move ahead with developing their 5G networks -- which will providefaster speeds, faster connections and faster access to the cloud, empowering technologies such as self-driving cars and smart cities -- a divide is growing.

On one side, there are allies of Beijing who have no problem with Huawei, with Russia only the latest major example. On the other there is Washington and a handful of its closest allies, who have vowed to shut the Chinese firm out.

In the middle, however, remain a host of countries, most of which are traditionally closer to the US than China but are unwilling to incur the delays and extra cost to building their 5G networks that banning Huawei from playing a role would create. The US is already lagging behind Chinawhen it comes to 5G, and blocking the market leader will do nothing to help narrow that gap.

That's not to say the US can't catch up -- and eventually even overtake China -- but it will likely be a struggle.

The worst case scenario for many observers is that this divide solidifies, forcing governments to choose sides and setting up a next generation internet split between China and the US, something which could have major ramifications beyond which telecoms firm provides network equipment.

"Having mutually exclusive technological spheres doesn't simply mean supply chains will mirror each other on different continents," technology analyst Tim Culpan wrote recently. "Rather, for countries around the world, it means that every business and investment decision becomes a political one."

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/07/business/huawei-russia-china-splinternet-intl/index.html

"And Simon Peter answered him saying, “Master, we have worked so long, all night, and have not seen any results. But because you say so, I will once again let down the nets.”

Luke 5:5

Trump Declares War On Silicon Valley: DoJ Launches Google Anti-Monopoly Probe

From Zero Hedge:

Once shielded by the logic of Silicon Valley's relentless churn of innovation - which dictated that no reigning tech empire could rule for long before going the way of Yahoo and AOL - tech giants like Facebook, Amazon and Google have been subjected to intensifying anti-trust pressure - Elizabeth Warren's "Break up Big Tech"s billboard is only the latest example. Indeed, big tech trust-busting has become one of the few issues in contemporary Washington that garners genuine bipartisan support...

Just before midnight on Friday, at the close of what was a hectic month for markets, WSJ dropped a bombshell of a story: The paper reported that the DoJ has opened an anti-trust investigation of Alphabet Inc., which could "present a major new layer of regulatory scrutiny for the search giant, according to people familiar with the matter." The report was sourced to "people familiar with the matter," but was swiftly corroborated by the New York Times, Bloomberg and others.

For months now, the FTC has appeared to be gearing up for a showdown with big tech. The agency - which shares anti-trust authority with the DoJ - has created a new commission that could help undo big-tech tie-ups like Facebook's acquisition of Instagram, and hired lawyers who have advanced new anti-monopoly theoriesthat would help justify the breakup of companies like Amazon.

But as it turns out, the Trump administration's first salvo against big tech didn't come from the FTC; instead, this responsibility has been delegated to the DoJ, which has reportedly been tasked with supervising the investigation into Google...

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-06-01/trump-declares-war-silicon-valley-doj-launches-google-anti-monopoly-probe