Apparently the answer to the OP is "rearm". @Benkei you doing alright?

Why would you point to a technicality to consider Europe and Russia to be at war, when clearly in practical terms we are not at war? — Tzeentch

It's not a technicality. It's the existing framework along which these things are assessed. That Europe so far has decided not to act reflected a lack of political will. But the situation and our rights are crystal clear. If Russia wants war with Europe, it's welcome to it because it will lose just as it lost the Cold War.

Yes, happily defending democracy in writing (outside of this little community).

Glad somebody is. Ah well, at least the news is exciting.

Do you accept then that NATO, by your own logic, declared war on Russia when it bombed Nord Stream?

Yep. Those are the attitudes of the present. And I'm sure that Claude Malhuret and the Canadian politicians aren't going to be alone with their truthful and realistic views on Trump.

I haven't come across any examples of Trump criticizing Putin. Anyone? — jorndoe

Never.

If Russia wants war with Europe, it's welcome to it because it will lose just as it lost the Cold War. — Benkei

No doubt. But the amount of money and years that would eventually take the following reconstruction could be frightening. Imagine Europe spending years and wasting resources to recover from a war once again.

We always thought that diplomacy was the main venue to solve disputes (I still think it is), but, sadly, the main superpowers are forcing us to spend a lot of money on the army because we no longer can trust them.

We always thought that diplomacy was the main venue to solve disputes (I still think it is), but, sadly, the main superpowers are forcing us to spend a lot of money on the army because we no longer can trust them. — javi2541997

Diplomacy wouldn't work on Hitler.

What disinformation bubble are you in that you would describe that sabotage as such? First, we still don't know who did it so pretending you know it was NATO is ridiculous. The most likely candidate is still Ukraine, but possibly a non-state pro-Ukraine actor. Ukraine by then was already at war and therefore l, if they did do it, they retaliated against Russian infrastructure within the scope of the already existing war.

The most likely candidate is still Ukraine, but possibly a non-state pro-Ukraine actor. — Benkei

If you believe that, then I have a bridge to sell you.

One of the worst things Trump has said:

Mr. Trump has claimed since taking office a second time that the European Union was formed in order to screw the United States.

It's rock-bottom bad.

It is nationalist paranoia. It's jingoism*** in the extreme. Is the EU a phantom in a capitalist nightmare of competition? (I thought competition was supposed to be a universal capitalist good. No?) It is irrational hostility towards our best friends. (Yes, I know, nations don't have friends -- they have interests. So: hostility towards the EU is not in our national interest.) It's crude thinking. But then, nobody has ever accused Trump of being refined. It's the sort of statement Trump fishes out of his gold toilet.



***The term "jingoism" comes from a British music-hall ditty during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878.

Unfortunately it's not going to be the worst. Trump will continue braking up the alliances that the US has. And he basically doesn't understand it.

First it is Ukraine and Zelenskyi, because he isn't making the surrender deal so Trump could get a win and the Nobel-prize he's after. It's already Denmark, because The Europeans are just in the bewilderment-phase. They are not yet even angry. The Canadians start to be in anger-phase.

Next he will likely start bashing the Europeans and Canadians.

Now I might be wrong, but good luck if the US stays in NATO until and after the next Summit in June 2025 in Hague. As that's many months from now, who the fuck knows what has happened between now and then.

A recent piece from Slavoj Žižek, Trump’s Oval Office clash with Zelensky killed diplomacy. A few philosophical ideas are drawn in to the analysis, which sets out the impossible position of Ukraine, and suggests, perhaps only half jokingly, an alliance between Europe andChina.

@Benkei "@Banno ,@ssu @BC @Christoffer et al, consider ...

The neoconservative left? Hmm... :chin:

He’s right in that the populist right is a result of failures of the left. I think the left has been wrapped in a “good guy” mantra, always positioning itself as the one standing for human rights and the goodness of people against the capitalist machine of the neoliberal right. And in doing so have become blind to actual issues in society which the right could exploit to gain power.

And it is interesting that there’s been this flip, in which the right acts with post modern methods directly taken from the left. While the left is becoming a rather conservative group in that it speaks of a decency of a welfare state in a conservative rhetoric.

That the left may become the form of politics which tries to hold on to some form of stability in the same way conservatives on the right spoke of stability, but now that the right is sliding into chaos it’s the left doing so instead.

However, the current right is formed on populist ideas, meaning they have no central vision. They gained power without a plan to use that power, other than imbue more power to the oligarchs around the central power figure, and enrich themselves as much as possible on the backs of the people.

This form of power is essentially doomed from the start. And the left still has a vision of economics and ideals, which might boom in a few years because it’s a vision that power can naturally form around in the long term.

Essentially, a post modern populist leader who tricks voters and followers, will eventually fall, they always do. And when they do, people will want a new ideal to follow. And with industries dying or being automated, the traditional voters sharing the ideals of the right-wing populists will die off as they won’t benefit from the right-wing leaders politics.

I think that the 2020-30s will be marked as a large tectonic shift in politics and world economics. How the world looks when we go into the 30s will be the defined state of the world for the most part of this century.