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Managers given 200 characters to justify not firing nuclear regulators

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Re: Managers given 200 characters to justify not firing nuclear regulators

#161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ROI to USA that it has been the dominant military power for the last decades, combined with the cooling effect of NATO across the globe – i think you can imagine the instability and increase risk of nuclear war without NATO (Japan, South Korea, Europe, etc would acquire nukes without USA guarantees) It has enabled a very stable and predictable world. This has benefited USA immensely. It it not clear to me, that r…

We can't afford to police the whole world. NATO expansionism is one of the causes of the latest conflict in Ukraine. It's not clear to me that unwinding our interventionism around the world is going to make the world more stable. But it is clear to me that we can't afford to keep doing it. China is eating our lunch and they have about 3x as many people as we do. Neither Europe nor the US are producing much, and the e…

> NATO expansionism is one of the causes of the latest conflict in Ukraine.

There's no such thing as NATO expansionism. Eastern Europe became dead set on joining NATO after seeing the destruction of Russian democracy by the remnants of the Soviet security-military complex. They correctly predicted that Russia would degenerate into an authoritarian dictatorship that would turn outwardly expansionist after KGB hardliners consolidated power and crushed all internal dissent.

Eastern Europe's entry into NATO is like townsfolk signing up for neighborhood watch after seeing the social order break down in the next town and fearing that criminality will spill over into their own community. The criminals, of course, are disturbed that people are setting up security cameras and looking out for each other. Breaking into houses would be much easier in a town where everyone keeps to themselves.

Eastern Europe managed to break free of Russian military occupation only in 1994. Criminal gangs had taken over our town by force at the end of WWII and prevented us from living normal lives for half a century. Now, the same criminals demand that we dismantle cameras, fire security guards, and stop cooperation amoung ourselves because "neighborhood watch expansionism" violates their "interests." Damn right it does.

Re: Managers given 200 characters to justify not firing nuclear regulators

#162
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> Assuming that anyone in the government still cares. Schneier hits the mark here. Government only works at all if people care. And if you tell someone that their job, and the organisation they work for - are of no value - then those people won't care any more. I don't know what the outcome would be of large swathes of the government either being fired or not caring any more but we're going to find out and I don't t…

Government is a huge ship where everything happens slowly. If you fire all sailors at once, you won't notice the difference immediately. The phantom ship continues to sail. Then engines start to heat up and fail. And if there's an obstacle along the way, it's game over. This is a dangerous game played by morons full of hubris. On June 16 YC organizes an "AI Startup School"; the first speaker is Elon Musk: https://www…

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Re: Managers given 200 characters to justify not firing nuclear regulators

#163
post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Also, Trump did not run on these policies -- he's implementing policies he explicitly repudiated when he lied about not being affiliated with the Project 2025 manifesto. Where do you think Project 2025 came from? Trump may not have run on the specific, enumerated list of items in the Project 2025 agenda, but everything in that agenda falls in line with Trumpist goals and right-wing Republican ideals, and it had deep…

Look, I'm aware that he's a liar and his track record from his first term should have made that pretty apparent to the voters at large. I'm just saying that the idea that "people voted for this" and therefore he has some kind of mandate for the current agenda is dumb when he explicitly said his policy was something else.

I'm not defending the premise that Trump has a mandate at all - I don't even believe in the concept of a "mandate" in that context, it's just propaganda.

I'm arguing against the premise that Trump publicly denouncing Project 2025 really means no one who voted for him saw any of this coming.

Re: Managers given 200 characters to justify not firing nuclear regulators

#164
post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Also, Trump did not run on these policies -- he's implementing policies he explicitly repudiated when he lied about not being affiliated with the Project 2025 manifesto. Where do you think Project 2025 came from? Trump may not have run on the specific, enumerated list of items in the Project 2025 agenda, but everything in that agenda falls in line with Trumpist goals and right-wing Republican ideals, and it had deep…

To take Trump at his word that hes not affiliated with with the folks behind Project 2025 is to be willfully ignorant. Many of his team were involved in the drafting of those proposals. Do we think for one second he has any grand vision about governing? Hahaha. Nope. That he outsourced to the heritage foundation. TikTok? He was originally saying it’s a Chinese spy app and it should be sold to US interests or banned.…

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Re: Managers given 200 characters to justify not firing nuclear regulators

#165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Why should European states assume the US has an obligation to always support Europe? Well, it agreed to: >In 1994, Ukraine agreed to transfer these weapons to Russia and became a party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, in exchange for assurances from Russia, the United States and United Kingdom to respect the Ukrainian independence and sovereignty in the existing borders. I don't necessarily…

I agree that we in the US need to continue defending the Budapest Memorandum and helping Ukraine where possible. That said, individual European nations have had over a decade to re-arm and further help Ukraine (even before the 2022 invasion), but it ended up primarily being US, UK, Canada, and Turkiye providing support and training for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. European states are starting to step up, but using Tru…

Donald Tusk also said today there is no option of sending Polands army to Ukraine because "Polish army is for defending Poland borders", its like he forgot what happened in 1939 :|

Re: Managers given 200 characters to justify not firing nuclear regulators

#166
post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree that we in the US need to continue defending the Budapest Memorandum and helping Ukraine where possible. That said, individual European nations have had over a decade to re-arm and further help Ukraine (even before the 2022 invasion), but it ended up primarily being US, UK, Canada, and Turkiye providing support and training for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. European states are starting to step up, but using Tru…

Donald Tusk also said today there is no option of sending Polands army to Ukraine because "Polish army is for defending Poland borders", its like he forgot what happened in 1939 :|

Appears to be because of Kaliningrad Oblast and Belarus:

"Poland simply doesn’t have the additional capacity to send troops to Ukraine,” said a senior Polish official who spoke on condition of anonymity, noting the country has long borders with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad and Russia-allied Belarus, which need to be reinforced with Polish forces. “The French are far away so they can send soldiers to Ukraine; we’re close so we cannot.” [0]

The biggest hurdle that caused the current emergency talks to fail appears to be Germany and Scandinavia (as usual).

[0] - https://www.politico.eu/article/europes-leader-donald-trump-...

Re: Managers given 200 characters to justify not firing nuclear regulators

#167
post #4

Bruce Schneiers thoughts : https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2025/02/doge-as-a-nat... https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2025/02/ai-and-civil-...

>> Assuming that anyone in the government still cares. Schneier hits the mark here. Government only works at all if people care. And if you tell someone that their job, and the organisation they work for - are of no value - then those people won't care any more. I don't know what the outcome would be of large swathes of the government either being fired or not caring any more but we're going to find out and I don't t…

>>I don't know what the outcome would be of large swathes of the government either being fired or not caring any more but we're going to find out and I don't think it will be good.

Job security is a big part of why somebody takes up a government job. And it even makes sense. People trade stability for some percentage of extra money they could earn. You are not likely to hire good talent for what government pays.

On the other hand, I can't think of a bigger disaster than running a continent spanning government like you would run a start up.

Re: Managers given 200 characters to justify not firing nuclear regulators

#168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So the US is a threat because it refuses to pay disproportionate funds for the defense of Europe? I think everyone whining about it is losing their minds over nothing. We have been massively subsidizing these "friends" so that many of them can afford free healthcare. Fuck that noise.

Note that "US as a threat" was a strawman argument. (Although USA has threatened to occupy EU territory in the last weeks.) It does not have to be a threat, but if Europe should take more responsibility for their own defense, it would make sense build up their nuclear capacity. (And I am well aware of the differences between EU, Europe and individual countries. But it seems to me tha France is the country to build up…

Ukraine had weapons systems that it could not operate due to them being locked down by USSR leadership. So their choices were really to give them up, or begin reverse engineering and risk getting invaded by parties that didn't want them to have those weapons.

>Also - universal healthcare is not about 1-2 percent lower military spendings (much of which goes back to the country itself). USA is a rich country, you could also afford it.

We can't afford it. Most of the Western countries that have it can't actually afford it either. The US and the rest of the West are only rich in a very narrow sense, in that they get to borrow more than anyone else. Manufacturing has left, and everyone is running a trade deficit. It's time to turn all that around before our countries become 100% dependent on imports and unable to defend themselves.

Re: Managers given 200 characters to justify not firing nuclear regulators

#169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Note that "US as a threat" was a strawman argument. (Although USA has threatened to occupy EU territory in the last weeks.) It does not have to be a threat, but if Europe should take more responsibility for their own defense, it would make sense build up their nuclear capacity. (And I am well aware of the differences between EU, Europe and individual countries. But it seems to me tha France is the country to build up…

Ukraine had weapons systems that it could not operate due to them being locked down by USSR leadership. So their choices were really to give them up, or begin reverse engineering and risk getting invaded by parties that didn't want them to have those weapons. >Also - universal healthcare is not about 1-2 percent lower military spendings (much of which goes back to the country itself). USA is a rich country, you could…

Yes, but France and UK has working nuclear weapons, my point is that it may give protection to build on them especially when their previous ally leaves the space.

AFAIK USA pays more for healthcare per capita per person. It is not about economy, but political will. (And I did not bring up this argument).

One thing that can be criticised though is low retirement age in southern Europe. But whenever that question is brought up (Macron has bet much of his political future on it), the JD Vance friends from the far right wakes up and start wild protest and collecting votes against (yellow vests, AFD).

I don't think we disagree that Europe has been naive in trusting both USA and the current world order with free global trade.

But that also gives them the freedom to act.

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