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The Post-American Internet

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Re: The Post-American Internet

#151

Post by modo_mario »

exceptione wrote: post #97
modo_mario wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Other than the persistent exceptions (hungary and such) those parties either didn't win or only did so very recently. They were also typically opposed to these kinds of surveillance measures being talked about(of course it's easy to argue they would turn around on this when in power) but it makes this whole argument fall kind of flat. As for the rest.... given that my country Belgium nearly balkanized in the past due…

> They were also typically opposed to these kinds of surveillance measures The mistake one should not make is thinking that those parties have any policy for the common good. People, from journalists to the man on the street, ignore all the lies, the crazy things, the falsehoods refuted by science, the attacks on the rule of law--only to discuss their political marketing flyer like it would constitute any real policy…

>His whole argument is extremely solid. I am sorry.

His argument implies it is because of these parties when again. It's countries where they are not in power leading this charge and this started well before the increase in popularity of said parties.

Meanwhile these parties typically vote against.

>get in power and do the complete opposite of everything they had promised, then

I even acknowledge that in the next sentence.

Re: The Post-American Internet

#152

Post by hshdhdhj4444 »

flumpcakes wrote: post #98
PeterStuer wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Technically, sure, but as long as the US dollar is the 'world reserve currency' any attempt to do so that would threaten to be a success can be easily 'bought out' by the US just by creating a few more bits on a ledger.

USD is about 2/3 of foreign exchange reserves. Which definitely is the lion's share. However, the more the US prattles about, the lower that ratio will become, the less soft power the US has.

It’s rapidly declining as the world reserve. Thats part of the over 10% decline in the value of the dollar last year (it still amazes me that those prattling on about the rise in the S&P last year dont realize that of the 16% increase, over 10% was eaten up by the USD falling, so the real increase was closer to 6% which is remarkably average if not below average, when considering higher than normal inflation).

The other part that Americans aren’t seeing coming is a reduction in the reduced willingness of the rest of rhe world to finance American debt. The last few rounds have seen a much higher percentage of corporate debt purchases as opposed to sovereign purchases. Which is fine for now, but if a slowdown hits, corporate purchases of U.S. debt will reduce in a way sovereign purchases never did (in fact those tend to increase).

That would severely impact the ability of the Fed to goose a slowing economy by lowering interest rates.

Re: The Post-American Internet

#153

Post by mlrtime »

flumpcakes wrote: post #80
flanked-evergl wrote: post #64

European countries are de facto vassals of the US. Not because they have to be, not because it benefits them, but because this is what the politicians and their voters want. Instead of taking care of Ukraine themselves, and providing security guarantees to Ukraine themselves, they expect the US to do it. Instead of supplying Ukraine itself, they need the US to do it. And all of this against an opponent, Russia, that…

> entirely dependent on US It's more of a co-dependence. When it comes to military we have fallen behind significantly, but the EU member states also doesn't want to spend a trillion euros a year on it. It may seem one sided, but the EU has a lot more to gain if there was a hard split between them and the US. It will be significantly more painful for the EU, for a long time, but ultimately it would be the undoing of…

>It's more of a co-dependence. When it comes to military we have fallen behind significantly, but the EU member states also doesn't want to spend a trillion euros a year on it.

Yes, you get it. And the American tax payers also don't want to fund EU lack of spending on military. We are all in agreement.

Re: The Post-American Internet

#154

Post by defrost »

disgruntledphd2 wrote: post #147
defrost wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but it's certainly repeated by some here in Ireland. To be fair to Ireland and history they have a valid complaint going back centuries wrt outsiders taking their lands, language, governance, food and labour all while debating "the Irish Question" and reaching for eugenic "solutions".

> To be fair to Ireland and history they have a valid complaint going back centuries wrt outsiders taking their lands, language, governance, food and labour all while debating "the Irish Question" and reaching for eugenic "solutions". Odd then, that they didn't notice when this happened post GFC when basically all of the land banks and large assets were sold off to (predominantly) US based private equity funds. And h…

I more or less nodded along in general agreement save for

> for a growing population (which we've never had before)

and feel I might remind you that in the time span of my comment (past centuries) Irelands population nearly tripled in the 40 years following 1700 to a peak greater than the current population number.

Re: The Post-American Internet

#155

Post by TacticalCoder »

Quothling wrote: post #4

I've spent a couple of decades in the Danish public sector of digitalisation and in the private sector for global green energy. 10 years ago people would've laughed if you talked about leaving Microsoft and iOS in enterprise. Now we all have contingency plans for just that, and a lot of organisations are already actually doing it. So I would argue that there is more of a crack, but I'm not sure the post-american inte…

> ... 10 years ago people would've laughed if you talked about leaving Microsoft and iOS in enterprise. Now we all have contingency plans for just that, ...

If, at long last, Trump doing insane things can help get rid of that piece of undescribable turd that Windows is in the EU, please just please Trump: go take the Groenland.

As an EU citizen I'm gladly giving Groenland up (even if it's not in the EU but belongs to Denmark which is, itself, in the EU) if in exchange I don't ever have to see a computer running Windows ever again in Europe.

Re: The Post-American Internet

#156

Post by jonathanstrange »

mlrtime wrote: post #144
jonathanstrange wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're clearly not being replaced, as a look at the numbers indicates, but what is true for most European countries is that if the low birth rates stay far below 2.1 their populations will continue to decline and their economies will shrink, if they don't manage to offset that trend with controlled yearly immigration. To clarify: Although it follows mathematically with constantly low birth rate, dying out is, of cou…

>controlled yearly immigration. IMO the problem lies with this statement. For people like OP any "control" of immigration is going to be responded with the same criticisms. Because if you take a stance hard enough, any of these controls can be spun into anti-immigration.

By "controlled" I had something else in mind than what you seem to insinuate, namely that the yearly immigration rate must roughly match the desired long-term population stability. For a reasonable immigration system, you need to welcome the immigrants you want to get, provide a long-term perspective, and offer some incentives for them to come. Unlike the US, European countries have often failed at that basic job, or at least their immigration politics have been erratic and without constancy. Phrases like "a stance hard enough" are a symptom of the problem.

Re: The Post-American Internet

#157

Post by aleph_minus_one »

Quothling wrote: post #4

I've spent a couple of decades in the Danish public sector of digitalisation and in the private sector for global green energy. 10 years ago people would've laughed if you talked about leaving Microsoft and iOS in enterprise. Now we all have contingency plans for just that, and a lot of organisations are already actually doing it. So I would argue that there is more of a crack, but I'm not sure the post-american inte…

> There is a saying about how us citizens trust companies but not their government, and how Europeans trust their governments but not their companies. Which obviously doesn't apply to everyone, but it's how you can view the EU.

I would rather say for quite a lot of people in Germany it's that they neither trust the Federal Government nor the EU government nor the US-American tech companies.

Re: The Post-American Internet

#158

Post by drstewart »

ben_w wrote: post #139
drstewart wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>has already sanctioned EU judges for doing their jobs when their job is against US interests. Wow, this is scary. I assume EU would never punish US companies for doing their jobs when their job is against EU interests?

A judge making a ruling to listen to a case, issuing arrest warrants so those cases can proceed (arrest does not mean proven guilty!), is not supposed to be a valid target.

Great, then when American judges rule that Maduro is a valid arrest target, then no one in the EU can complain.

Re: The Post-American Internet

#159

Post by hshdhdhj4444 »

OGEnthusiast wrote: post #67

Europe is in a tough spot these days, trying to unwind decades of economic partnership with the USA while simultaneously trying to fend off Russia from Ukraine.

In a sense the EU is in a bind because it refuses to accept that the U.S. has moved on.

If the EU does that they can throw off a lot of shackles that they’ve imposed on their relationship with China, and part of that deal could be China stopping funding Putin’s insanity.

Re: The Post-American Internet

#160

Post by drstewart »

hermanzegerman wrote: post #116
drstewart wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>curious kid gloves with Russia Did he outsource all of the country's oil reliance to Putin's Russia? Wait, no, that was the EU. Did he also laugh at anyone telling him not to do that since it made him rely on Putin's Russia? Wait no, that was also the EU.

We aren't 100% reliant on Russian Oil, and the EU has made decisions again and again to reduce the reliance on Russia for Energy against the resistance of some members

Oh my mistake, 100% reliant on Russian oil that's shipped via India. Much better!
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