When things start moving people can move mountains, suddenly the unemployment goes to %0 like it happened with Russia, market forces get dominated by state forces, moats like network effect or IP go to the trash.
How can you type such nonsense? Look at 2014 Crimean annexation - thats "how good they defended themselves" without western training and billions in weapon aid. After four years they have million plus dead but "this is fine" for the west.
As if we haven't seen that film before.
Or even worse, keep selling them to Israel as Germany is doing, because one genocide was not enough and two wrongs make a right.
I am willing to defend my family.
I am certainly not even willing to defend ANY country just because local politicians are afraid of incoming new management, no matter whether it's my home country or country where I currently reside, I have no allegiance to any country, only to my family. Sadly majority of people are brainwashed, if there were more people like me there would be zero wars, just local crimes.
With what?
Russia has been wringing itself out to find enough soldiers to continue the war in Ukraine, and while they haven't been driven out just yet, I think it would be somewhere between "a massive stretch" and "flat-out untrue" to say they're winning.
And by and large, the rest of Europe is farther away, has a much worse/less clear casus belli from Russia's point of view, and, crucially, is part of NATO, and thus will not be fighting alone (and yes, I know Ukraine is getting a lot of support from Europe, but support isn't the same as boots on the ground).
If Russia launches an offensive against the EU, there's a damn good chance that offensive boomerangs right back around into its face.
I dunno, for decades the policy by most of the West has been (a) keep Germany from re-arming in case they start WW3 and (b) discourage nuclear proliferation by anyone, and now because the Americans have thrown security out the window in exchange for freedom to bully, we have to reverse course on both of those?
Yes, because Russia's propaganda, espionage and corruption arm has been focusing on the far-right parties for the past two decades, breaking from their previous focus on the far left.
And no, they didn't really change who/how they backed for 20+ years.
The difference between modern german press and the soviet pravda, is that soviet citizens were aware the Pravda was propaganda.
I'm sure the same applies to orban. People in power don't like to be called extreme so they rebrand to launder their ideology. It's still the same crap but now more hidden.
Of course, note that Orban _lost_. I suspect that the far-right's Putin-fetishism is a marketing mistake on their part; "Russia is good, actually" may resonate with their base but is a very hard sell to anyone else.
...to a former member of his party Magyar, who was his colleague 2 years ago in 2024. It's amusing how some people see Magyar as some big change coming to Hungary after Orban.
I don't think anyone genuinely likes Russia, it's more about stop pretending we suddenly like Ukraine, you know you can dislike them both at same time, right?
or who turns on the TV and sees which atrocity they've committed this week.
Let me know, because I want to make sure that I'm aligned with this mystical Western Atlantacist Anglo-Saxon (insert Russian propaganda snarl-word du jour) hive mind.
What I meant was it would be more interesting to see any opinions that conflict with that above establishment consensus. For example on negotiated settlement of the Ukraine war vs. continuing the forever war. Like where do Europeans disagree with the strategic interests of the US, do they really 100% align as this poll makes it appear? How is that possible?
Some of these opinion polls are not particularly useful though, as for example Poland is frequently signing defense deals with the US. I’m not sure it’s all that relevant how much a western EU country feels about the prospect of being attacked, as I don’t see how Portugal or Spain or France are at much geopolitical risk compared to the eastern flank.
Look at the Denmark graph (adversarial going up). I do not think in that case it is about "the likelihood that the US could be relied upon in the event that someone attacks" but about the US itself doing that.
You can hardly expect the guy attacking you to have your back.
The current US administration has made it very clear over and over again that deals, contracts and agreements don't mean shit to them.
That's a wrong analysis IMO. I think NATO as it was is completely dead. Europeans need a nuclear arsenal too (french and UK nukes are for those two countries only; that does not protect several hundred millions people). Russia is threatening escalation every day, including using nukes. Europeans need their own nukes here - relying on a corrupt orange man acting like a russian asset, is a losing strategy. Even having another guy act and roleplay as president, won't really change this fundamental problem.
This is highly delusional. Don't you think that if the US and Russia were an alliance, the US would provide intelligence and communication to Russia, and not to Ukraine?
But yes, the main natural predator of Americans is other Americans.
Can you give any examples of major corporations who do not have a verifiable history of corruption or anti-consumer/worker actions, not named costco?
Can you name more than 10 politicians over the last 50 years who would be considered leftist in the rest of the Anglo world?
They'll say we are corrupt/capitalist/evil yet they are the ones that refused to pay their share because they thought they didn't have to worry about the damage from their actions/choices. They undercut American businesses and legally tolerated practices like tax deductions for overseas bribes while the supposedly "evil capitalist" U.S. imposed criminal penalties for similar conduct. They negotiated reciprocal agreements, such as mutual recognition of aviation certifications, then failed to uphold them disadvantaging American companies.
Europe legally tolerated/profited from corruption for decades. Europe refused to uphold parts of its own agreements. Europe laughed when the U.S. raised these complaints. I'm not sure why Europe chose this path. My best guess is that it did so because America tolerated that behavior for so long they assumed there would never be consequences. Maybe they thought the US was stuck with whatever Europe chose to do.
It's like my British ex-friends that were surprised when I ended the relationship because all they wanted to do was gripe at me. I'm not spending money/hours cooking only to be treated miserably. If every interaction is just complaints and contempt while I'm expected to keep investing my time and effort eventually I gonna stop showing up.
--reactionary thoughts from an unthoughtful American. They are more reactionary than productive, and I wish I had different ones.
