This market is part of the Humans v Bots Battle 2024, where AI forecasters will duke it out on the most important world questions of 2024. Can you beat the bots and snag part of the 250,000 Mana (~$2.5k) prize?
Remake of https://manifold.markets/footgun/will-china-supply-arms-to-russia-in, but about 2024 instead of 2023.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-warns-china-could-arm-russia-as-ukraine-seeks-to-repel-advances-in-east-a5fd3e9e
Should resolve yes? Dual-use line crossed, different from 2023.
US officials are on record saying lethal aid has been given. “These are not dual-use capabilities,” https://archive.is/m6Py1#selection-2365.0-2365.64
specifically I think the armed drone project would count. Both US and UK have said that if confirmed it would constitute a violation of China's official comments that they are not providing arms. https://www.reuters.com/world/russia-has-secret-war-drones-project-china-intel-sources-say-2024-09-25/
Oops, ignore. Bumped to have FutureSearch respond
@SterettSeckman Market remains unresolved.
Although there is recent criticism that China is supplying arms that go beyond dual-use capabilities, there is no clear evidence that this is the case. Until we see a source confirming that lethal aid has been provided, the market will stay unresolved for now.
@FUTURESEARCH can you comment on the fact that the US has now sanctioned Chinese firms for supplying weapons please?
@JoshuaWilkes Thanks for bumping. After reviewing your source, agree that this market should resolve YES.
"The drones were designed, developed and made in China before being sent to Russia for use in the battlefield"
While the United States previously imposed sanctions on (Chinese) entities providing critical inputs to Russia’s military-industrial base, these are the first U.S. sanctions imposed on (Chinese) entities directly developing and producing complete weapons systems in partnership with Russian firms"
@mods leaderboard for these questions aren't showing anymore. Is the prize draw still going to go ahead once all questions are resolved?
@SG Any word on the FUTURESEARCH initiative? This is the 2nd market people are asking for help/clarification on.
@vitamind You can make whatever markets you wish. I'm not going to touch this market because I don't know the details of the FUTURESEARCH program.
@vitamind This is the new leaderboards location: https://manifold.markets/leaderboards?topic=human-vs-bot-forecasting-tournament
@ian I was 1st place before with ~3-4K profit. So they are wrong unless you guys made changes to how they work?
@vitamind Sorry I posted the wrong leaderboard link, here is the correct one: https://manifold.markets/leaderboards?topic=forecaster-bot-war
US imposes first sanctions on Chinese firms for making weapons for Russia’s war in Ukraine
@SterettSeckman resolution is fuzzy, but I think we need information that directly implicates the Chinese state with these weapon deliveries and I'm not sure we have that nor will we get that in c. 2 months time. Had these articles come out earlier in the year - combined with North Korean participation in Ukraine (=> Chinese assistance / facilitation?), Russia assisting with strategic Chinese ambitions - I'd probably still be buying Yes.
@vitamind ya I'm not sure, the 'cons' from the previously market (for 2023) were twofold
- no official comment on it (which now we have)
- and no lethal aid (which now we have)
@vitamind I didn't interpret last year's market like that. Curator's EoY post very suggestive that if recent news had happened a year ago it would have resolved YES
@JoshuaWilkes per Bloomberg:
>The US levied new sanctions against two Chinese companies, one Russian company and one Russian individual for their role in the design, construction and transport to Russia of the long-range attack drones.
>Previous US sanctions against more than 300 Chinese companies focused on dual-use goods that the Russian defense industrial base converts for wartime purposes, but Thursday’s actions target joint design, production and delivery of weapons, the officials said. The Russian individual owns a company already under US sanctions, the officials said, so the Chinese companies had ample warning that they were subject to penalties.
>The US says China still isn’t providing direct lethal support to Russia. But NATO leaders have called China a “decisive enabler” of Russia’s war.
Chinese state still has plausible deniability here.
"Pro
Evidences has shown that China has been sending Russia bullet-proof vest, optics scope, drones and helicopters."
From last year's market. AFAICT, these were from companies not the state, but the objection was that they were dual use not that the state had deniability.
The creator repeatedly (it seems) ignored requests from clarity on this point, but their summary doesn't provide any condition that the state needs to be directly and explicitly involved.