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InitialsDiceBearhttps://github.com/dicebear/dicebearhttps://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/„Initials” (https://github.com/dicebear/dicebear) by „DiceBear”, licensed under „CC0 1.0” (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)DV
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384
Joined
2 yr. ago

  • its not like the us wasn’t getting anything in return

    Thing is, what the USA was buying with its expensive umbrella over Europe was a disarmed Europe. At the time, the USA felt it was in their interest for EU to be weak.

    For a variety of reasons, the rise of China perhaps being at the forefront, the USA no longer believes its in their interest to keep EU toothless.

  • Permanently Deleted

    Jump
  • this sounds like what Google wanted to be since its inception: ask a question, get an answer

    somewhere along the journey, the reality of needing to make money drove the enshitification of search results: ask a question, get offers to sell you an answer

    this seems like a step in a better direction

  • Yes. USA already knows what its going to do. A hypothetical trade agreement isn't going to change the decision, so Ukraine should make exactly zero concessions in pursuit of influencing a decision which has already been made.

  • the one thing that gas is good for is cooking

    Only if your kitchen is adequately vented, but most that I've seen are not.

    A modern gas furnace or water heater will have a flue, and if the system has been installed properly then exhaust gasses, including CO, will get sucked out of the house.

    Most gas ovens/ranges are unvented - they just spew combustion products, including CO, directly into the home. Its so bad that the 1st generation of CO detectors had to be retired because they were constantly going off when people would cook dinner. Modern CO detectors will only go off if CO levels remain elevated for hours.

    Cooking with gas in a home that lacks a large hood fan that's ducted to the outdoors is a terrible idea.

  • When the Berlin Wall fell, the predictions made at the time were for several decades of low intensity conflict ('war on terror') followed by another major world war. This is the expected state of the world, not some surprise outcome from out of nowhere that the capitalists haven't planned for.

    Australia is still being shielded from Chinese expansionism by NATO's anti-access and area-denial strategy emplaced along the islands off China's coast.

    If the war in Europe expands and heats up, it will be European cities that get destroyed and EU citizens who will have to choose to fight for their autonomy or preemptively surrender to subjugation by the Tsar. USA pulling back from supporting Ukraine forces the EU to pick a path and walk it. Either they build an army capable of self-defense, or they'll be overrun. The fighting in Ukraine prevents Russia from building up forces, buying the EU time to arm themselves, if that's what they decide they want to do. If they move fast, there's a chance they can win the war before it really begins.

    Expect to see nuclear proliferation. Modern wars have shown that non-nuclear armed states are a toothless prey species that only exist so long as their nuclear armed neighbors permit it. During the reconstruction era following WWII, USA's relative advantage in infrastructure and technology allowed them to grant credible security guarantees. Now that the rest of the world has caught up, USA's defense promises have lost credibility (for example, see Ukraine).

    The ocean is full of submarines, and the coastlines bristle with long range, precision missiles. World trade is expected to be among the first casualties of the next world war. Countries that are not self-sufficient will be unable to replenish their losses. Economic protectionism is a matter of national security.

    Dismantling USA's Federal government serves the interests of organized crime, ie the capitalists that own Wall Street. They're getting squeezed by de-globalization but also expect to be able to expand into new criminal enterprise enabled by deregulation and the dismantling of the Federal government's investigative capabilities. Without having someplace better to invest capital, might as well let it ride despite the chaos. With a world war, and possibly a nuclear exchange, just over the horizon, there really isn't any safe place to put one's money, except perhaps housing and real estate in those parts of the world expected to survive. Canada. Siberia. Greenland.

    If we do nothing to reduce atmospheric CO2, global heating will eventually cap out at 5 degrees C and won't go higher due to diminishing returns. The far north will need to invest in agricultural infrastructure, but once that gets built out in the warmer world, there will be more arable land than there is today. Its going to be boom times for real estate developers.