Yeah, I was wondering how they are going to expel an EU citizen.
Germany, like really WTH is wrong with you.
Israel knows they have the US by the balls.
Iran has enough missiles to wreck havoc on tiny Israel. It's only the threat of retaliation by the USA that holds Iran back.
No other country would retaliate against Iran on Israels behalf.
And to make it even more idiotic, Israel really doesn't have bunker busters that are 2x better than the best the USA has. So they can't actually destroy any significant part of Iran's nuclear facilities.
So it would just be an empty show of force that would force the Iranian regime to retaliate to save face, which then lures in the USA into yet another war in the Middle-east.
I hope Americans are ready to throw another $10T into yet another MENA war.
Because the silicon valley bros had convinced the national security wonks in the Beltway that it was paramount for national security, technological leadership and economic prosperity.
I think this will go down as the biggest grift in history.
Kevin Walmsley reported on Deepseek 10 days ago. Last week, the smart money exited big tech. This week the panic starts.
I'm getting big dot-com 2.0 vibes from all of this.
As Europeans we have spent trillions on buying American defence products and buying American debt.
While China has been divesting from US debt, the UK and other European countries have been picking up the slack and now own more than 2 trillion of US debt.
I think we have to seriously stop subsidizing the USA and start investing in ourselves.
https://en.macromicro.me/charts/81306/top-10-countries-holding-us-debt
Yes, I fully agree.
So we need to find the right messaging.
I don't know about Germany, but here in the Netherlands most people identify as middle class.
So "stop taxing the middle class" and "let the billionaires pay more" is a message that should resonate.
I'm optimistic and I believe we will get there. The level of equality we have today would be unfathomable for somebody living before 1945.
Totally with you here.
How did I end up on a timeline where I am vibing with Erdogan.
I agree. The rule based order only works if the rules apply to everyone.
And from a more realpolitik perspective: the Arab world is our (European) backyard.
We really don't benefit from instability there.
While I do agree with you, I also see twitch, TikTok and Patreon presenting models that are quite competitive with YouTube.
From a privacy perspective, free junk content like TikTok, YouTube and twitch will always be hard coupled with targeted advertising.
But Patreon (and onlyfans for that matter) do offer a model that can work without ads.
In fact, if Patreon also introduced an ad-supported tier and allowed you to more broadly see other content aside from the direct person you sponsor, it could probably grow quite a lot.
Both elections exactly prove my point.
The federal system is set up to favor State power, which is why the US presidential election isn't decided by popular vote. By design, Wyoming and California are considered equals in many respects.
It's a bad system, but it's very much entrenched in the constitution.
And it also requires critical mass. It's basically impossible to enact meaningful change with a 50-55% majority. You need 60% or more to get big changes. And a majority of states.
Would such a strategy legally work in the USA?
Here in the Netherlands, a plan to regulate maximum rents seems to be much more promising.
We will know if it worked in about 2-3 years.
I remember when Democrats had 60 seats and Lieberman was the boogeyman.
There is always an excuse.
alvvayson
joined 2 years ago
Once you start looking at reparations for slavery and colonialism, you quickly realize it's a debt that the former colonizers will never be able to repay.
And to be honest, for wrongs that were committed over a 350+ year period, it doesn't make sense to repay a debt within a single lifetime.
So I agree with you, something would be better than nothing.
But it is important to make an inventory on what would be justly owed and what has been paid back to date and in what form. Perhaps this process should also last 350 years.