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Germany Overtakes US in Ammunition Production Capacity

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Re: Germany Overtakes US in Ammunition Production Capacity

#181

Post by rising-sky »

halJordan wrote: post #172
ragebol wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a functioning democracy, this should not be possible. There should be check and balances. Reading a bit about Wilhelm II: so many parallels indeed. "Dreamt of a great colonial power", had to deal with some form of democracy, making incoherent replies, ... And more.

No it should definitely be possible in a functioning democracy (and is because it happened in one). It would not be possible with an educated electorate. But that's different from what you said

Doesn't it require some form of educated electorate to sustain a functioning democracy? Otherwise it is really "by the people" if they are merely avatars?

Re: Germany Overtakes US in Ammunition Production Capacity

#182

Post by throwawaytea »

ragebol wrote: post #51
kakacik wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anybody who had the pleasure to go through relationship with mentally unstable person (for the lack of better words, if I had to guess some undiagnosed borderline disorder on a scale 1-2 out of 10 mixed with some childhood traumas) sees nothing out of ordinary - just daily chaos, tantrums, illogical destructive behavior and very little self-control on the other side. Narcissism adds a curious twist, but of course for…

The more shocking thing might even be that this whole mess is allowed to continue and that there is no way to stop an out of hand situation. The whole US system can't be trusted even when this administration is gone, it's just broken.

This is what the people voted for. To be honest, they voted for more but trump chickened out with ICE.

Re: Germany Overtakes US in Ammunition Production Capacity

#183

Post by ahartmetz »

lostlogin wrote: post #82
Kampfschnitzel wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Iran is imo. in parts about china. Controlling the strait of Hormuz means controlling a significant amount of energy supplies if china. Same thing with Venezuela.

How’s all the ‘controlling’ coming along? The US look like fools.

If it looks like a fool, talks like a fool, and acts like a fool...

Re: Germany Overtakes US in Ammunition Production Capacity

#184

Post by makeitdouble »

jounker wrote: post #161
ragebol wrote: post #2

It's still baffling to see the US lose so much face in so short a time. There is definitely truth that Europe has relied on US defense for too long, but what the US got in return is hard to put into words and economic terms. We bought your tech, culture, defense and so much other stuff. This rift won't close anytime soon

There are wonderful parallels with Wilhelm II of Germany. It just takes one idiot at the top with no understanding of his own failings to undermine decades of careful diplomacy and policy.

You need a lot of support to stay in power, even in a democracy. Impeachment procedures for instance exist for that reason. No one rules alone, it's never one, nor even a small bunch of idiots.

Re: Germany Overtakes US in Ammunition Production Capacity

#185

Post by embedding-shape »

ragebol wrote: post #163
jounker wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are wonderful parallels with Wilhelm II of Germany. It just takes one idiot at the top with no understanding of his own failings to undermine decades of careful diplomacy and policy.

In a functioning democracy, this should not be possible. There should be check and balances. Reading a bit about Wilhelm II: so many parallels indeed. "Dreamt of a great colonial power", had to deal with some form of democracy, making incoherent replies, ... And more.

> In a functioning democracy, this should not be possible.

I think it's less about democracy vs not, and more about empires/hegemonies vs whatever the antonyms are. They seem to just fold over themselves at one point or another, like it's unavoidable.

At one point we (humanity) should figure out how the small and many can try to rein in the solo bullies in the world, but guess we're not quite there yet.

Re: Germany Overtakes US in Ammunition Production Capacity

#186

Post by embedding-shape »

benterix wrote: post #115
pjc50 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even before Trump, and the invasion of Ukraine, it was transparently obvious that the idea of minimum spending commitment to NATO was intended to prop up the US arms industry rather than actually achieve anything military. To a certain extent the US occupation of Germany was intended to prevent Germany rearming on its own.

> it was transparently obvious that the idea of minimum spending commitment to NATO was intended to prop up the US arms industry ...to Trump. European leaders took it literally: since the USA stopped being a reliable partner, Europe needs to depend on itself for protection. It makes zero sense to buy American weapons if you can produce/purchase them on the continent.

> It makes zero sense to buy American weapons if you can produce/purchase them on the continent.

And if you can't, the better option still remains to try to keep it "local" and not rely on very far away "partners".

Re: Germany Overtakes US in Ammunition Production Capacity

#187

Post by traderj0e »

laughing_man wrote: post #73
fabian2k wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

[flagged]

I'd be fine if Iran had nuclear weapons. They're not a threat to the US. The nukes wouldn't even be useful against its neighbors except in maybe a self-preservation scenario. It's not like North Korea, Russia, Pakistan, Israel, etc are using the threat of nukes to take territory, even though Russia is fighting a hot war right now.

Re: Germany Overtakes US in Ammunition Production Capacity

#188

Post by tim333 »

exceptione wrote: post #21
ragebol wrote: post #2

It's still baffling to see the US lose so much face in so short a time. There is definitely truth that Europe has relied on US defense for too long, but what the US got in return is hard to put into words and economic terms. We bought your tech, culture, defense and so much other stuff. This rift won't close anytime soon

> There is definitely truth that Europe has relied on US defense for too long, That wasn't the problem for the USA, on the contrary. «The U.S. is lobbying against SAFE because it mandates contractors from the EU/EFTA/Ukraine. One reason why Tusk is speaking candidly about how shaky the U.S. is as an ally: Washington says it wants Europe to arm itself and take its security into its own hands, but then it demands Europ…

Worse than "Washington says it wants Europe to arm itself". There's the business of threatening to take Greenland for one thing.

Re: Germany Overtakes US in Ammunition Production Capacity

#189

Post by traderj0e »

laughing_man wrote: post #102
lostlogin wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another serious question: if this attack was so desperately needed, why did it take Israel to push America into it? It’s almost like it didn’t need to happen. And if we step further back, relation with Iran are troubled, why would that be?

It's more like a nuclear armed Iran is an existential threat to Israel, while the threat to the US is longer term.

Iran isn't a problem for the US, it's a problem for Israel. They're a third-world country on the other side of the world. And their govt is severely corrupt and oppressive, but that's their problem, which we aren't even trying to fix with this war.

Re: Germany Overtakes US in Ammunition Production Capacity

#190

Post by traderj0e »

Argonaut998 wrote: post #61
renewiltord wrote: post #25

[flagged]

Doing this ensures: - No more soft power - Massively reduced capability to strike the Middle East - Europe dumping US bonds - Europe reducing dependence on the USD - No ability to restrain Europe from arming - No one would trust the US again - remember, the USA has had security guarantees with Ukraine long before this mess. There is a lot to be said about this attitude of "we are doing Europe a favour" idiocy, it's r…

Yeah I'm not convinced that Ukraine is a real concern for the EU. The US has been trying to pull Ukraine into NATO for decades, which pissed off Russia because it's right next to them, and we thought they weren't going to do anything about it. Would the EU alone have followed such a strategy? Probably not, seeing how Germany blocked Ukraine from NATO in 2008 specifically to avoid angering Russia.
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