But we do understand it. It's a happy confederation of sovereign states, that tries desperately be something it cannot be, a real federal union.Joining the EU means give part of sovereignty and many things. I get it. But that's the point. Share the best of each country. We were in war for centuries, and look now. That's what I wish Europeans could see and understand. Our old continent already suffered from wars and dictatorships, so no one is entitled to give us lessons of how we should do the things up. — javi2541997
Let's remember that membership either to NATO or the EU is voluntary. Norway was in talks in joining the EU, did weigh the pros and cons and decided to be away. Just as Switzerland, I can understand them: they would be paying much and not getting much. And Norway was in NATO.On the other hand, I would ask Norway to join the EU. It is not understandable that this country had a NATO secretary, but their citizens have no voice in European chambers. How can we allow that? Furthermore, they are very clever at managing natural resources, as they usually do with oil in their sea. — javi2541997
Well, if Germany won't be willing to stand up for it, then they'll not make a huge issue with it. You would have to respond to it. Do you take it up to NATO?It's amazing such news isn't picked up more broadly. I hadn't heard about those sabotage attempts. — Benkei
Aligning itself with Putin against NATO is the real issue here. But Trump simply doesn't get it.So this is it. The great betrayal has begun. The USA will walk away from Ukraine and align itself with Putin against NATO. This is, of course, even to Republicans, a complete outrage, but who's going to stand up? — Wayfarer
What do you mean by that? Just remember that if Brussels or basically EU bureaucracy is whimsical and inefficient, the integration process still does have it merits. Especially after we witnessed what happened to the UK and the absolute disaster that was. Nope, post-Brexit UK was a proof that in the end, the positive aspects overlie the negative ones.No matter who leads, I bet they’re beholden to Brussels. — NOS4A2
Actually, there hasn't been anti-US sentiment in Europe, just as there hasn't been anti-US sentiment in Canada. Of course, that can change, even in the country you live thanks to Trump.I don’t know why they never disengaged years ago, especially given the thankless anti-US sentiment which seems regnant there. — NOS4A2
Just what governments are you referring to? The US with the totalitarian Trump administration which doesn't care a shit about the separation of powers? Perhaps.And now, given the totalitarian trends of those governments, it seems like the perfect time to wean yourself off the tit. Don’t you think? — NOS4A2
I would think that now as Trump is hellbent in ruining everything, the EU should approach Canada and perhaps also Mexico. These three entities should start working on trade between themselves in order to compensate for the damage Trump is doing. I think it's extremely reckless to trust the US on anything. Trump isn't a glitch, it's what Americans want and that makes the US a very untrustworthy trading partner.It’s bad when Trump does it but we’re silent when the EU does it, it seems. All they have to do is be fair and they have nothing to fear, but I don’t think fair trade is in their capacity. — NOS4A2
Do not forget the hybrid war that is going around. That is far more serious than the information war. We are already having hybrid attacks here quite constantly. And where do you put the fact that the German navy has come out and said that it's naval vessels have been sabotaged:Really, one of the first things we ought to do, isn't to focus on the physical wars but the information war. — Benkei
(See here)(The Maritime Executive) The German Navy has confirmed that unnamed saboteurs have attempted to damage more than one of its warships, and media reports from Germany suggest that at least two vessels have been affected.
In 2024, a German Navy minehunter was damaged by unknown personnel while in shipyard in Rostock. Several cable harnesses were severed, and an investigation is under way into a suspected sabotage attack, according to Spiegel. The Rostock prosecutor's office has confirmed that it is investigating the case.
Late last year, an unknown saboteur dumped dozens of kilos of metal filings into the oil sumps of the main engines aboard the brand new corvette Emden, according to multiple German media outlets. The contamination was detected and cleaned out, but if it had not been spotted, it would have quickly destroyed the engines.
Last week, German Navy Vice Adm. Jan Christian Kaack told the press that "more than one unit" had been sabotaged, without going into specifics. Troublingly, he added that German naval bases have reported a pattern of attempted security perimeter breaches, both from the shoreside and from the waterside. He added that uniformed German Navy personnel have been approached in public while en route from base to their homes.
"The growing threat from Russia is more urgent at the beginning of 2025 than it was two years ago," Kaack told reporters, without specifying whether the suspected security threats within Germany were Russian.
The suspected attacks are just part of a broader pattern of sabotage targeting Europe's security forces and its infrastructure. In early 2024, three German-Russian dual nationals were arrested on suspicion of planning an attack on the U.S. military base at Grafenwohr, a training facility for Ukrainian servicemembers. The main suspect, identified as Dieter S., stands accused of plotting an extensive series of arson and explosive attacks within Germany, with targets including rail lines and a manufacturing plant.
Presidents giving executive orders simply shows their lack of capability to put through actual legislation.How is it possible that all of Joe Biden's executive orders were wonderful and all of Trump's are evil? — philosch
Many try to desperately promote this view, but I think it's wrong. Trump really means what he says. Once you look at his actions from this viewpoint, it actually makes sense. Likely he won't go so far to order a military operation against Denmark, but likely Denmark won't give a message that it's ready defend it's territory even by military means. Denmark is just desperately hoping that Trump will move on and forget the whole idea (just as Panama hopes). That got Denmark off the hook last time.As for the State of Canada or Greenland or Gaza, I think that is all silliness, I believe he's trolling to get people to soften up for negotiations. — philosch
(Meduza) The agreement proposed by Donald Trump’s administration granting the U.S. access to Ukraine’s natural resources would give Washington control over the country’s mineral and oil and gas reserves, ports, and unspecified “other infrastructure,” The Telegraph reported, citing a draft of the contract.
The Trump administration is seeking 50 percent of Ukraine’s current revenues from resource extraction, as well as half the value of “all new [resource extraction] licenses issued to third parties.” Such revenues would be subject to a lien in favor of the U.S. “That clause means ‘pay us first, and then feed your children,’” The Telegraph quoted a source close to the negotiations as saying.
The agreement also states that “for all future licenses, the U.S. will have a right of first refusal for the purchase of exportable minerals.”
The Telegraph notes that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky proposed granting the U.S. access to Ukraine’s resources back in September, hoping to attract American investment that would make another Russian invasion more difficult. Some of Ukraine’s mineral deposits lie near the front lines in the east or in Russian-occupied territory.
“He probably did not expect to be confronted with terms normally imposed on aggressor states defeated in war,” The Telegraph wrote. “They are worse than the financial penalties imposed on Germany and Japan after their defeat in 1945. […] If this draft were accepted, Trump’s demands would amount to a higher share of Ukrainian GDP than reparations imposed on Germany at the Versailles Treaty.”
That was the former prime minister Sanna Marin, a social democrat, quite a clueless character, yet let's say an average politician that handled COVID and NATO-membership well:Last I heard your president was raving with celebrities and taking drug tests. — NOS4A2
You think this stupid culture war rant goes anywhere near the severity of basically what just happened? How clueless can you really can be here? The country that is by a straight line 9 kilometers from myself is hellbent on building it's lost empire back by attacking it's neighbors and cutting sea cabals connecting my country to others just 40 kilometers from me. Yet then culture warrior JD Vance calls that "Russia isn't our threat", but the stupid brain dead culture war? Oh, because there's these excesses that have happened to individuals, all that culture war DEI stupidity as that would be the most important this and then he's rooting for German party of his liking?JD’s historic speech wasn’t for Europeans, it was for the stuffy bureaucrats in the room, many of whom were wearing military uniforms for some reason. In fact Vance defended the European citizens who were roundly silenced by the weak commissars of European governments for the smallest of speech and thought crimes. Does anyone in the EU do the same? — NOS4A2
I disagree. It has very much engaged the Europeans. — Amity
Really? Lol.They are only making recommendations. — philosch
An air traffic controller told the Associated Press that workers affected at the FAA included radar, landing and navigational aid maintenance.
Spero said messages began arriving after 7 pm on Friday.
'We are troubled and disappointed by the administration’s decision to fire FAA probationary employees PASS represents without cause nor based on performance or conduct,' he said.
'Several hundred employees have been impacted with messages being sent from an ‘exec order’ Microsoft email address, not an official .gov email address.'
One FAA worker alleged he had been targeted because of comments he made about Musk's companies.
'Before I was fired, the official DOGE Facebook page started harassing me on my personal Facebook account after I criticized Tesla and Twitter,' Charles Spitzer-Stadtlander wrote on LinkedIn, describing how he was fired after midnight on Saturday.
'Less than a week later, I was fired, despite my position allegedly being exempted due to national security.'
The dismissals come at a critical time for the FAA, which already faced a shortage of controllers.
For years, officials have warned that overworked and understaffed air traffic control systems were an accident waiting to happen.
So the media shouldn't report on what Trump is doing by executive orders, not by following things as they are usually are done in a Republic with separation of powers?I'm not even a Trump supported per say, just don't like propaganda and agenda driven reporting on either side. — philosch
Well, if you can or will save your Republic.- my prediction is that DOGE will come to be seen as the most egregious and idiotic blunder in the history of the government of the United States of America. — Wayfarer
History or reality begs to differ.Nothing — frank
Think about it. If all the debt that you put out is bought by your own central bank, what will that mean to the dollar?What? — frank
Me too, but this is the problem with populist foreign policy. I really would hope that this is just one low point between Europe and the US and things can get better. Sorry, if I'm too pessimistic.Sorry about the break up. I hope the US and Europe can still be friends. — BitconnectCarlos
Yes, but notice the real danger here. Once Europe does indeed get to the defense spending levels of 5% and that happens in a new institution outside NATO, what does that look like?The EU has a combined GDP of $22bn and Russia has around $4bn so I don't see why the countries of Europe can't band together to deter Russia. — BitconnectCarlos
Reserves of private banks aren't the same as the reserves kept by the central bank. Private banks use the given currency of the country, they don't have to worry about the current account.I think all large banks keep foreign currency reserves. — frank
Yeah.JD Vance’s speech to Europe’s elites was a dressing-down of the old establishment for their totalitarianism. In it he reiterated what he thought were the shared values of freedom, the ones both purported to fight for in the latter half of the last century, all of which seems to have disappeared in the next. — NOS4A2
And the elections are rescheduled for May. So your pro-Putin candidate can win then, if the Romanians really want him.Vance mentioned that the Romanian courts annulled the election and upended democracy when the populist candidate won, on the premise that Russian misinformation promoted him. — NOS4A2
Former liberal leader Crin Antonescu, the candidate announced by the coalition formed by the Social Democratic Party, the National Liberal Party, and Hungarian minority party UDMR for the presidential elections, stated that far-right politician Călin Georgescu should be able to run in the upcoming elections. According to the schedule agreed by the ruling coalition leaders, the presidential elections should be held again in May.
How? You really don't know?How do Americans benefit from the dollar being used in global trade? — frank
Common sense suggests that if a country fritters away its borrowed foreign funds on spending that yields no long-term productive gains, then its ability to repay—its basic solvency—might come into question. This is because solvency requires that the country be willing and able to generate (eventually) sufficient current account surpluses to repay what it has borrowed to finance the current account deficits.
Since Trump basically is incapable of getting laws through, he just goes with executive orders. Just ask yourself: what legislation did he get through last time? The tax cuts were basically a thing done by the GOP with Trump giving only the signature. So he will go with executive orders and with DOGE, which has absolutely no legal basis. And Elon knows this. Hence the extreme hurry with the revolution... as the case of firing those responsible of nuclear weapons showed. Or that when the USAID assistance to Mozambique was to a place there called "Gaza", then we got this ludicrous idea of condoms being sent to Hamas. But hey, it's a great tweet and Trumpist will share it!Which is in line with the domestic political policy, particularly via DOGE. The policy is not one of reform, it's one of revolution. And it's possible the people who provide the philosophical underpinnings of this revolution (who do not include Trump himself) do not actually envision rebuilding any of the things that are being torn apart. — Echarmion
It can happen. Even is likely. At worst, Trump can walk out of NATO if he feels like it.I’m wondering if the result of the US - Russia conference will amount to the US walking away from supporting Ukraine. — Wayfarer
Perhaps the past tense is apt here.The NATO alliance was beneficial to both sides. — Tobias
Of course they did. They supported the dollar as world currency, they supported the US arms industry with billions in orders, their greatest scientists went to US universities and they rhetorically backed US interventions. — Tobias
As Trump is doing the bidding for Putin, they don't have to.Should we expect the Putin excuse-makers and apologists soon? — jorndoe
Jesus. No wonder the country is broke. — NOS4A2
:rofl:It’s called diplomacy, — NOS4A2
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday, February 15, he blocked a Donald Trump-led deal that would give the US access to vast amounts of Ukrainian natural resources as it lacked "security guarantees" for Kyiv and "does not protect us." Zelensky's announcement came a day after Ukrainian officials gave the US a draft of the agreement and three days after Trump called Russia's Vladimir Putin, with Europe and Kyiv alarmed the pair will try to end the conflict without them. Trump, a businessman leader highly critical of the money Washington has sent to Ukraine to fight Russia's invasion, has pushed for access to rare earths in Ukraine.
I would correct that to "The American elan". The Republicans are happily cheering to this. They will remember things in democracy like the separation of powers and corruption only if a democrat is the President. As if they lacking any morals.The Western elan of exporting democracy and universal human rights to the Rest is transmogrifying more and more into importing authoritarianism and despise for universal human rights from the Rest. The irony. — neomac
Do you have something for reference on this?Trump has proposed American ownership of some of Ukraine's rare earth mineral deposits, and wants to send American troops to stake these claims. — Metaphysician Undercover
Not the first time when Trump finds "waste", "the deepstate" and "lousy agreements" from the decisions his own previous administration did. But who cares about the little things as those...Musk’s misinterpretation went viral, amplified by Trump as proof of corrupt ties between the “radical left” media and the “deep state.” — Washington Post
And I would be very happy if I'm wrong and it won't be as bad. Giving up on Putin and giving Putin everything, Trump can be the largest weak dick ever that has been on the US presidency. Because Trump isn't dividing anything to himself. What is he dividing for himself? He will be the biggest surrender monkey in all of history if he goes along with Putin as Neville Chamberlain had far more backbone than Trump. You see, Neville did declare war with Germany later.Now we might need to take another look at Ukraine's independence. Trump and Putin are in the midst of dividing it between themselves. We'll see how that works out. — Metaphysician Undercover
I don't think he'll intentionally pick Russia over UK. The net result would be the same, because of the trust issue - and his stupidity. — Relativist
In days gone by, he didn't have the power to summon Putin-the-powerful.
Now he does, both, and revels in it? — jorndoe
Biden was your successor and predecessor, but he planted the US flag in downtown Kyiv and declared on behalf of the United States that the US will be with Ukraine as long as it takes until Ukraine secures it's independence. Therefore, the credibility of the United States depends on how this war ends, not just the Trump administration, the United States itself. I would secondly tell him (Trump) that if you allow Putin to vasalize Ukraine, that will send a message to China that you can recover what you regard as a renegade province.
Lol. :lol:My take on it is that Trump has no favorites, which means he feels exactly the same about the UK or France as he does about Russia or China. — Relativist
Trump is the only declaring anything in this administration. But it's great days for Russia and China as Trump is rapidly eroding the US position.Some expected him to announce a massive withdrawal of troops from Europe. That didn't happen. Yet. — frank
Trump really wants to please both the leaders of Russia and China.(South China Morning Post, 4th February 2025) US President Donald Trump’s spending freeze for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) could allow China to fill the resultant gap under the aegis of its Belt and Road Initiative, analysts said.
The 12-year-old initiative provides low-interest loans for highways, ports and power plants in scores of developing countries – many of which are also recipients of funding from USAID, an agency whose operations Trump halted this week.
Countries reliant on the 64-year-old aid programme may turn to China for support or other concessional investments in infrastructure projects – unless China offers first.
“There is a vacuum,” said Sharif Naubakhar, a professor of public policy at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. “Even though the belt and road is not aid, it is infrastructure, it is energy, clean water.”
China would be a “winner” of the USAID closure as it seeks “access to vital resources abroad” and tries to “build alliances that are not in US national interests”, said Cornell University applied economics and policy professor Christopher Barrett in a statement on Monday.
Economically troubled Bangladesh is likely to be among the first to approach China if USAID pulls out, according to a January 29 analysis by the Council on Foreign Relations, a US think tank.
And that's the issue that should be done. But there are good prospects for this. Assuming there's the will to do it. Just take for example drone warfare:Fusing defence industries would favour the rise of military-industrial complex lobby which may the necessary step to build a valid political and military deterrence against hostile powers. It’s also economically important to preserve a unite and dynamic market and technological development to compensate for the demographic and morale decay of spoiled Europeans. — neomac
Tells a lot. So you are uncomfortable with ethnic cleansing, but think it's an OK thing to do.Just because I'm uncomfortable with something doesn't mean that I oppose it. — BitconnectCarlos
Then you have absolutely no problem of understanding Nazi ideology, because that's the way exactly how they thought. Some may have been "uncomfortable" in the process, but hey, the end justifies the means.Sometimes I toy with the idea that certain cultures just ought to be vanquished on behalf of their own wickedness. — BitconnectCarlos
Which btw just shows how poor Hegseth is as secretary of defense as first impressions matter. That your first thing you say to NATO members you have to walk back tells a lot. But perhaps it's the genius of Trump. Maybe Trump just wants his underlings to parrot his talking points... perhaps make them more coherent and thoughtful.Interesting and well-written perspectives? What’s the thread coming to?
Anyway — how seriously do we take anything Trump says? Words and posturing matter, given the US’s stature, but I can’t see Trump allowing Russia to annex Ukrainian territory and permanently shelving NATO membership — which is likely be non-negotiable aspects of any settlement. Hegseth has asked already walked back statements re: NATO. — Mikie
The Parties may, by unanimous agreement, invite any other European State in a position to further the principles of this Treaty and to contribute to the security of the North Atlantic area to accede to this Treaty. Any State so invited may become a Party to the Treaty by depositing its instrument of accession with the Government of the United States of America. The Government of the United States of America will inform each of the Parties of the deposit of each such instrument of accession.
Only Trump can really end NATO. I think Europeans have still a love affair with NATO and when Trump is against it and hates it, it will be there for the Europeans as this organization from a more peaceful past. Likely it will exist as an option, if the US notices the mistake it's making and will come back. But still, Trump hasn't left Europe.That would sound more promising. But once NATO is gone and won't be replaced by some comparable EU collective defence, not sure if the EU will survive. Imagine if countries like Hungary or whatever that swim in the other direction, will continue to do it also aver security matters e.g. by hosting Russian military bases. — neomac
EU isn't part of NATO. Remember Ireland and Austria, Benkei. And Sweden and Finland haven't been long inI've been hammering on the EU leaving NATO since then as the only reliable way forward for our security. — Benkei
The JEF is a coalition of ten like-minded nations (Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, UK), comprising high readiness forces configured to respond rapidly to crises. It can integrate into larger international operations such as those led by NATO, the UN or other security coalitions and can conduct the full spectrum of operations. It enhances the deterrence messaging of NATO and provides agile, credible and capable forces in support of JEF Participant Nation interests.