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956 Worldwide

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Everything posted by 956 Worldwide

  1. This is a benefit. The logic of authoritarianism requires constant conflict and adversaries to face down or blame, both internal and external. America’s actual adversaries— Russia, China, Iran, North Korea— are dangerous and conflict with them carries the risk of real and immediate negative consequences to the regime. Petty quarrels with friendly nations and the slow dismantling of a system that benefits America offers opportunities by contrast. There is a chance to win and trumpet small, stupid victories as proof of your strength. There is the opportunity to frame low-stakes, expected negative reactions as intolerable insults to national strength, prestige, and sovereignty. The long-term negative impacts of isolation and mistrust will bolster the narrative of a strong regime as the fortress against a hostile and unfriendly world. The Viktor Orbans and Robert Ficos and Alisher Aliyevs and Lukashenkas of the world delight in isolating their countries. And it is time to begin talking about “regime interests” as opposed to “national or American interests.” We only have the former now, which will be cast always as inseparable from the latter.
  2. Announcing that we are in fact “occupying” territories where we have a mutually agreed upon military presence can surely have no foreseeable negative consequences.
  3. The “weak claim” is just Trump-world bullshit. You’ve established you don’t give a fuck about laws or Allies. Like I said, go off big dawg. I’m uninterested in discussing things with people who choose to engage based on propaganda and a warped worldview.
  4. I take back what I said about you being usually sane. Go off, big dawg.
  5. Treating Latin American countries this way is the surest way to get more China presence in the Americas.
  6. The Danish parliament has to concur with any independence referendum, it has always been viewed as pro forma because the Danes are chill and pragmatic, but of course turning this into an issue of national pride and bullying from a superpower has a way of changing equations. You’re seriously misrepresenting how the relationship works. You are correct that 19th century style imperialism has a logic to it. For hundreds of years the U.S. has been involved or wanted lots of territory including huge chunks of Mexico, Cuba, the Philippines, Greenland, and others. It’s almost like the world has changed and we figured out a better way to coexist and advance our interests.
  7. Trump is, right now, trying to bully Denmark into selling us Greenland which gives lie to the absolute mind-numbing stupidity of the way you’re describing home rule and Greenland’s relationship with Denmark. I have no idea what you’re driving at with the whole World War II diversion. You are correct that across Europe and the North Atlantic, the U.S. liberated and defended territories and countries. Unlike the Soviets, we didn’t make them ours. Now 80 years later we are changing our minds? The correct approach to this is to let Greenland and the Danes sort their relationship out, not put our finger on the scale one way or another.
  8. Lulz, you’re absolutely engaging in stupid historical gibberish to justify going and taking a piece of territory from country. Putin bangs on and on about how Russia has the right to what it wanes because of World War II and alleged failures of other nations. You’re normally a sane poster, step away from the old GOP think-tankers desperately try to pretend things aren’t as shitty as they are. Close your eyes and try to imagine GHWB bullying Denmark to seize Greenland.
  9. “Maybe if Ukraine wanted Donbas and Crimea then Bandera shouldn’t have…” “The Ukrainian Khrushchev gifted Crimea against its residents’ will…” blah blah blah.
  10. The how and what can’t be disentangled. I can have good reasons for wanting to obtain my neighbor’s tract but how I got about getting it absolutely is a part of of the decision tree. Blowing up your reputation and friendships is something sane people weigh heavily. Your willingness to part with Samoa and Guam is wild considering how much this whole Greenland spat is about security interests with China being cited regularly. This whole debate is loony, it’s part of the slow process of normalizing absolutely reprehensible, 19th century behavior.
  11. Except it is stupid and bad because Denmark is a treaty Ally, and a good one at that, and we could address nearly all of the legitimate security issues by talking to them instead of threatening them. All except making it “ours.” I am not sure at all where this messaging is coming from that Denmark is shitty and mistreats Greenlanders. They have nearly full autonomy and get most of their budget paid for by Denmark. They get to be EU citizens with full freedom of movement. They are fine enough that they have the luxury to turn down major extractive projects over environmental concerns. It’s not like it’s so awesome to be an American Samoan or Guamanian and we’re so much better. This bit is a lot of posturing and just giving cash payments to Greenlanders raises the question of if PR and Samoans get one, too.
  12. He’s testing the waters and shifting the window, calibrating to see what he can get away with and inching further each time. 1. I didn’t do it! 2. I didn’t do it, but it would have been le epic troll if I had. 3. It was le epic troll, LOL. 4. I was trolling but it would have been Ok if I wasn’t. 5. Ein volk, Ein Reich, Ein Furher!
  13. The thing is that the Democrats try to deliver important and difficult things, the GOP obstructs, and obstruction is easy in our system. The GOP promises to deliver political theater and illegality and does both.
  14. They tell their constituents that government is broken and then break it. They deliver that over and over.
  15. It is super offensive to autistic people and people who love them to try and excuse Elon’s behavior by citing potential autism.
  16. They are really telling on themselves by determining that content about the Tuskegee Airmen is “DEI.”
  17. Drive it into the ocean but beware of sharks. Always choose electrocution.
  18. I agree that five in a year isn’t a big deal, but if you get to be almost 30 and have never had at least a year or 2 when it’s “only ” then I would absolutely question whether the person I’m seeing is capable of a monogamous relationship. Especially if the answer to “did all the people you were sleeping with know you were sleeping with other people at the same time” is “no.”
  19. I am not into body count discourse, but to get to a number like 50-150 by averaging 5-10 sexual partners a year, that means you have likely never maintained a long-term monogamous relationship and are having a lot of one-night stands or are sleeping with multiple people at the same time. That would be the red flag to me if I were looking for a monogamous relationship, not the “number.” If you’re not, though, then go wild. It’s also wildly higher than the average which I believe is something like 6 or 7 partners.
  20. As a well-known non-Nazi, I just want to say that Germans should stop beating themselves up about all that unpleasantness.
  21. The dissatisfaction with Fico runs deeper than just Russia. He was already forced out once due to protests in 2018, but came back with a vengeance. He will be much more pugnacious this time. He does have a tricky spot in that coalition MPs are unhappy. I am not confident that there is enough momentum to maintain the protests. The 2018 ones went on for weeks and were much less politicized than these.
  22. More on Ukraine. Financial Times just put a story up, it’s behind a paywall. Chris Miller has a tweet thread out. Is he on Bluesky?
  23. We need to accept that a substantive chunk of fellow citizens are, in fact, fascists. The evidence is there. The rumors of rewards for turning in undocumented neighbors to ICE were false but they wished they were true. The most common complaint is that DJT is not authoritarian, retributive, or lawless enough. I am serious when I say that you should treat Trump supporters in your life as potential Stasi informants and adjust your relationship accordingly. They aren’t, now. But they have shown they are willing to be.
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