511–520 of 738 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That is indeed the joke. Hopefully you don't get downvoted for asking a question.
It was a very well veiled one too. If not for your comment I would not have realized it. I suspect people downvoting it didn't get it either.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It was a very well veiled one too. If not for your comment I would not have realized it. I suspect people downvoting it didn't get it either.
Some folks forget that not everyone is "terminally online" and won't get every reference and idiom.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not vouching for him, but Trump did alert the Germans about the risk of over relying on Russian energy [1]. He wanted Europe to become independent of Putin years before this crisis. He did not say these things in the most appropriate way, like everything he says, but it didn't seem like he wanted to weaken Europe before Russia, quite the opposite. [1] https://youtu.be/liGZGGQTYQk?si=Rafuq8eoKc84vpG1
It has been quite common knowledge that one of the US' biggest fears has always been a strong German industry paired with cheap Russian energy. It's not like Trump or anyone else had to raise some kind of alert here. The dependency was quite obvious and a choice by Germany. Unfortunately they're nothing but a vassal NATO outpost by now so the deindustrialization is probably going to continue until some far right part…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Blackmailing by Orban and his party, not Hungary.
Fair enough, but he's been in power for 18 years (1998-2002, 2010-present). He couldn't do that without widespread and lasting support.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
[dead]
> I humbly bow before the Ukraine. Note that “Ukraine” is now preferred to “the Ukraine”; the latter term was used in Soviet times to diminish its autonomy by implying it was just a region of the USSR.
Source ?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Fair enough, but he's been in power for 18 years (1998-2002, 2010-present). He couldn't do that without widespread and lasting support.
No, people supported them, but that is because democracy was hacked. Hungary is not a democracy anymore (it's a hibrid regime[1]). The biggest issue is that the majority of the media is controlled by the government. Also they own jurisdiction and have been gradually rewritten the constitution. Most people who support this regime do that because they believe the propaganda. Many people I know have been bitterly trying…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
In most ways yes, but militarily there's definitely some dependence on the US. A lot of European militaries were found to have relatively bare cupboards when the time to donate things to Ukraine came. Germany's Army Chief straight up said the army wasn't capable of fulfilling its mission. (And yeah the US struggled with artillery shells too, the difference is that the US has so much airpower it had a legit reason to…
Militarily the USA has always had the need to keep stockpiles: it's been in many, many wars or performing larger military maneuvers for the past 70+ years. European militaries didn't have to consider a large production capacity, neither stockpiling weapons since mostly weren't involved in large military actions (exceptions probably are France and the UK). In terms of efficiency that is what is expected, why waste tax…
Heh, which of these was Grenada ?
Cynical take: Probably a military maneuver. When the world is quiet, the USA has to pick a fight somewhere to run a shakedown of its newest toys.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Its funny with Hungary, Orban is such an incompetent ruler that currently Hungary is paying way above market prices for gas from Russia. So much for being friends with benefits with russia. You can see how it all is a series of really not that smart moves for Hungary for a long time, borderline treason. And one point generally - please lets stop calling whats happening in Ukraine in any other way than War. putin's wa…
Putin's war isn't a useful term though, because there are so many of them. Regarding change from "that Russia" to the modern one, I'm afraid there has been change, to the worse. The Soviet incarnation of the empire was at least nominally bound to the progressive ideas of socialism (which is completely orthogonal to wether those ideas are workable or not), whereas the current incarnation is openly worshipping the fasc…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not vouching for him, but Trump did alert the Germans about the risk of over relying on Russian energy [1]. He wanted Europe to become independent of Putin years before this crisis. He did not say these things in the most appropriate way, like everything he says, but it didn't seem like he wanted to weaken Europe before Russia, quite the opposite. [1] https://youtu.be/liGZGGQTYQk?si=Rafuq8eoKc84vpG1
He wanted to sell US LNG. Not more and not less. Russia delivered gas to Western Europe for 60 years, the US could not guarantee LNG deliveries for 2 years [0] Hopefully the traffic through the Panama canal goes down so Europe can still get US LNG that would otherwise end up in Asia. [0] https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-lng-export-pause-...
Seems like there wasn't a better other option anyway, was there?
Before invading Ukraine, Putin was arguably banking on the fact that he had Europe on his hands, not only for economic activity, but for survival during winter. He clearly didn't expect the way Europe responded.
Maybe the invasion wouldn't have happened in the first place if Europe would have already demonstrated strength and energy independence in the first place?
[1] https://www.eia.gov/dnav/ng/NG_MOVE_POE2_DCU_NUS-NGM_A.htm
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, we surely are buying those F35's out of our own free will. /s
Unironically correct. European defense contractors completely skipped making fifth gen fighters (other than some partnerships with the US on theirs), so there are literally no European fifth gen options on the table to even consider. This makes it pretty easy for the F-35 to cruise to victory in competitive selection processes, it's simply more advanced. Hopefully this changes for sixth gen, with the two different Eu…